Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins this week announced the selection of eight fertilizer manufacturing projects to receive funding through USDA’s Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) Program.
The eight selected projects represent more than $1.34 billion in total proposed investment, including approximately $573 million in proposed USDA funding, to strengthen domestic fertilizer manufacturing, reduce America’s dependence on foreign suppliers, and increase long-term fertilizer availability for American farmers.
“What this means is that 32 thousand farmers, farming over four million acres all across America, they’re going to have fertilizer at a lower cost and made by American hands right here in the United States of America,” said Vance at a campaign rally in North Platte, Nebraska.
The eight projects selected to move forward in the FIELDS funding process include:
TalusAg – Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois, and South Dakota
Peace Valley – Florida
PCI Nitrogen – Texas and Oregon
Intrepid Potash – New Mexico
AdvanSix – Virginia
SUL4R-PLUS Illinois – Illinois
True Organic Products – California, Oregon, and Arizona
Agriculture Project Holdco – Kansas and Indiana
USDA economic analysis estimates that the additional production could reduce nitrogen fertilizer prices by 4.4% and potash prices by 5.3%, while increasing domestic nitrogen production by 3.7% and potash production by nearly 40% once the projects are operational.
During a press briefing on the announcement, Sec. Rollins admitted it will take some time before prices come down significantly. “We used to produce about 80% plus of our own fertilizer in America,” said Rollins. “Now we only produce about 50% of our own, so we think by the time we walk out of office will have shifted that 50% significantly higher, especially with some of these big capacity plants that were breaking ground and building. But I believe we’ll see a significant drop in fertilizer prices once the Iranian conflict is wrapped.”
Listen to the announcement from VP Vance and press briefing by Sec. Rollins below:
JD Vance announcement in Nebraska 4:19