A.G. Gancarski
The world is experiencing a shortage of fertilizer. The issue is especially acute in Florida, potentially threatening food security.
And a historic American enemy is to blame, says the only Democrat in the Florida Cabinet.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried on Friday blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the shortage, chiding Russian leader Vladimir Putin by name in a statement from her office, in which she credited the Joe Biden administration with slotting a quarter-billion dollars for domestic fertilizer procurement.
“Florida farmers help feed families across our state, nation, and world, even in the face of unprecedented challenges in recent years. But increased production costs due to labor shortages along with fuel and fertilizer prices skyrocketing are further threatening the sustainability of our agriculture industry. These issues are being compounded by Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, as Russia is a major supplier of fertilizer components,” said Fried. “What’s at stake if farmers can no longer afford the fertilizer needed for crop production is our state’s second largest economic driver as well as the security of our domestic food supply, as Florida’s climate allows for the production of fresh fruit and vegetables in winter months when other states cannot produce such commodities.”
“We greatly appreciate the (U.S. Department of Agriculture)’s announcement and commitment to making much-needed investments to support more American-made fertilizer production and competition to address high costs and limited supplies,” Commissioner Fried continued. “I also greatly appreciated the opportunity to speak directly with USDA officials (Friday) on the heels of this announcement to share the urgent fertilizer pricing challenges facing Florida producers in the near-term.”
Fertilizer prices have doubled in the last year, which has left the U.S. in the lurch as one of the world’s leading importers.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack likewise blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine for the fertilizer surfeit.
“Recent supply chain disruptions from the global pandemic to Putin’s unprovoked war against Ukraine have shown just how important it is to invest in this crucial link in the agricultural supply chain here at home,” Vilsack said. “The planned investment is one example of many Biden-Harris Administration initiatives to bring production and jobs back to the United States, promote competition, and support American goods and services.”
Fried has been vocal since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, offering consistent opposition to Russian war. Now she is directly connecting the war to quality-of-life issues on the home front.
9 comments
Antonio
March 11, 2022 at 6:06 pm
Putin is an evil piece of crap. But this blaming all our problems on him and the Ukraine war when it literally just happened is a giant pile of BS. Price of gas may have risen .75 cents since this conflict started, but it had already gone up by over one dollar in the year before Putin fired a single shot. Inflation has been soaring for over a year, and even buried down in this article theres this:
“ Fertilizer prices have doubled in the last year, which has left the U.S. in the lurch as one of the world’s leading importers.”
But sure, all our problems are because of Putin and the Ukraine conflict 🙄….Normal people can see through these lies and we are not buying it.
tom palmer
March 11, 2022 at 7:11 pm
The oil companies and the gasoline retailers are in there somewhere.
There’s too much fertilizer being applied in many parts of the country anyway, so this may be an unintentional environmental benefit. FDACS is not known for its environmental advocacy, regardless of who is in office.
Antonio
March 11, 2022 at 8:48 pm
Doesn’t change the fact that blaming all these problems on Putin is total BS and deflection. Your opinion that fetilizer is being used too much changes nothing in regards to the fact that Fried is using the lack thereof to play the false blame game.
As far as oil companies, yes they are greedy and am not here to defend them. That said, Biden has blocked new leases, while using their unused leases as deflection to say he’s blocking nothing. The problem is that not all land leases for oil are viable for drilling. It’s like a realty company jumping on a property that opened up, buying it quickly before others do on the hope to build there, and then finding out that the ground is unstable and you can’t build on it. Yes, you have the lease, but you can’t do anything with it. Again, oil companies are part of the problem, but the other part is the administration. The least they can do is own it when they are clearly a huge part of the problem. If they want to keep deflecting, they can, but non-tribal voters like me aren’t buying the bullcrap.
tom palmer
March 11, 2022 at 11:12 pm
I’m nor buying that everything is Biden’s fault, either.
It’s more complicated than that.
Antonio
March 12, 2022 at 2:56 pm
I never said everything is his fault. However, he’s actively handcuffing progress, and his policies have accelerated this. And all the while, he’s blaming Putin, which is complete deflection and BS. And while the majority of Democrat tribalists will not speak up about this, regular people like me can see this. We are not playing this game and we are not putting up with BS.
That’s true
March 13, 2022 at 7:10 am
On Yeah I forgot
You people never had money.
We did
Looks like you gonna have to trade in that truck beast for a fun size
Impeach Biden
March 11, 2022 at 9:15 pm
So Nikki finally holds a press conference that doesn’t attack DeSantis. Nikki is irrelevant and her days as Ag Commissioner and candidate for Governor are nearly over. Thank goodness and good riddance to Fried.
Comments
March 15, 2022 at 7:12 am
I blame this system for too much fertilizer extinction in the jail system.just take out the insides for no more children.
Comments
March 15, 2022 at 7:18 am
The only time the other countries are pricks is when Americans can not sifen resources for them
Comments are closed.