Crop Comments: Freezing/Thawing/Heaving … Not All Bad
The fertilizer market, both nationally and internationally, has been anything but boring since the new administration took over Washington 10 months ago. I keep my eyes on the seesaw economic behavior of fertilizer ingredients more than most people do. Expecting that change might be brewing in the crop input arena – with so much seemingly non-stop tariff tug-of-war – I opted to pick the brain of an expert.
The man who in my opinion does the best job of keeping his finger on the fertilizer industry’s pulse is Jeff Cassim, the marketing director for Liquid Products based in Seneca Falls, NY. I called him on Nov. 17 to get an update.
Cassim shared with me an email he’d just received from one of his corporate associates, Andrew Bratton of Carolina Eastern Co. Inc. of Charleston, SC. In Bratton’s words: “Late Friday [on Nov. 14] Trump removed tariffs on fertilizer. The two that will take the biggest brunt of this decision are urea and phosphate. We are still waiting to see how suppliers react with pricing this morning but only order what you can sell for the time being. If you have any questions, please let us know.”
According to one of Cassim’s bulletins, on Nov. 14, President Donald Trump declared that key nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, among other ag products, would be exempt from U.S. import tariffs that had been implemented back in April 2025. After just seven months in place, tariffs that have curbed imports to U.S. shores – thus elevating prices for key fertilizers – have been lifted. This action was in accordance with a modification to Executive Order 14257, issued by the White House on that date.
Fertilizers exempted from the tariffs include ammonia, urea, ammonium nitrate, urea/ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, diammonium phosphate and mono-ammonium phosphate. Potassium fertilizers, like muriate of potash, were already exempt from import tariffs.
The modification to the tariffs was slated to go into effect for goods whose importation originated Nov. 13 or later. Most fertilizer exporting countries, except for Russia, faced tariff rates of 10% – 15%, with some suppliers even facing up to 30% tariffs, resulting in major shifts in fertilizer trade. Very strangely, Russia escaped the tariff burden.
Exporters have avoided the U.S., favoring alternative sources for their supply. But trade flows could hopefully normalize now that fertilizers are tariff-free. The tariffs have contributed to eroding fertilizer affordability relative to crop prices in the U.S. this year. This reduced affordability has driven fertilizer prices to multi-year highs, significantly curbing demand for crop nutrients across the country. Lower cost imports hopefully should lessen farmers’ reluctance to enter the market leading up to spring 2026.
One class of crop nutrients that apparently and consistently dodges much of the earlier-mentioned economic tug-of-war are the mined or unrefined soil amendments such as ground limestone, rock phosphates, bone meal and some forms of potash. These items are feeding the soil rather than feeding the growing plants directly. They also benefit from the freezing/thawing action commonly impacting northern soils during the winter. This freezing/thawing seesaw behavior serves to make otherwise bound-up nutrients become more available to crops come spring.
This physical breaking down of soil into smaller particle sizes increases their surface area, thus making them more susceptible to the biological activity of soil microbes. Compliments of Jack Frost, the benefit of enhanced soil nutrient availability shows that money spent this autumn on these inputs can be expected to show a handsome return on investment at harvest time next growing season.
This freezing/thawing action has been shown to increase the effective neutralizing value (ENV) of ground limestone, breaking bigger limestone granules into smaller, more biologically active particles.
by Paris Reidhead
