The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) met with U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman last week to emphasize the need for quick federal action to provide relief to fertilizer producers, retailers and their farmer customers who continue to struggle with the effects of the ongoing natural gas crisis.

TFI members representing fertilizer producers and retailers joined TFI President Ford B. West at the meeting to underscore the need for new natural gas exploration and drilling, while outlining the further damage American agriculture is suffering without new gas supplies.

“To paint a truly accurate picture of the damage being caused by the natural gas crisis, it was vitally important that Secretary Bodman hear from fertilizer producer and retailer representatives,” said West. “I was also pleased that representatives from the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Corn Growers Association could join us and help TFI illustrate the harm being done by high natural gas prices to the entire American agricultural community.”

During the meeting, TFI members urged Secretary Bodman to support efforts to allow natural gas exploration and drilling in an area in the eastern Gulf of Mexico near Florida known as “Lease Sale 181,” as well as other coastal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) areas.

Since 1998, 16 ammonia plants have closed permanently, primarily as a result of the rise in natural gas prices. An additional five plants are currently idle and U.S. ammonia production has dropped by 34 percent in only five years. Consequently, the U.S. fertilizer industry, which typically sourced 85 percent of its domestic needs from U.S. based production during the 1990s, now relies on imports for nearly 45 percent of nitrogen supplies.

Illinois Fertilizer Tonnage Reports Available
The Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association reports that the Illinois Department of Agriculture publishes fertilizer tonnage reports on its Web site. The reports are broken up into four categories: Monthly Report, County Totals, State Totals and Laboratory Reports. If you would like to view the monthly tonnage reports, go to http://www.agr.state.il.us and click on "Programs and Services, then “Fertilizer.”