Reducing fertiliser costs in a volatile market

Fert Options
with Robin Boom
Agronomic Advisory Services

On June 1, Ravensdown lifted the bulk of its fertiliser prices significantly.

Superphosphate increased by $120 per tonne, Urea, sulphate of ammonia and muriate of potash increased by $200 per tonne. Triple super, DAP, MAP, sulphate of potash increased by $300 per tonne and Sulphur 90 increased by $400 per tonne.

As I write this, Ballance has yet to lift its prices, but it is expected they will also follow suit shortly.

Locally produced products such as lime, salt and dolomite have remained the same as they are not affected by international markets freight costs.

As I have mentioned before, there is little price gouging going on, as the price increases are largely the result of increased international competition over a limited supply, especially since China stopped exporting fertiliser products last year.

Other factors include increased shipping and energy costs, complicated by the war in Ukraine, as well as the trade embargos against Belarus and Russia.

For gross nutrient feeding horticultural crops and fodder crops such as maize and lucerne, these increases will have a serious effect on the bottom line.

I have found most intensive horticultural crops I soil test such as kiwifruit, avocados and vegetables have good overall fertility levels, so this year growers should look at doing some fine tuning and only apply those nutrients which are limiting production, and forget the maintenance mentality for elements that are already adequate or excessive.

For maize growers this is going to be a more difficult pill to swallow as maize is a gross feeder of elements, particularly nitrogen and potassium, and cutting back on these is likely to negatively affect yield.

For dairy farmers, if maize is being grown on farm, using effluent paddocks this year could be a wise choice, as these typically have excessive soil nitrogen and potassium levels which have built up, and good yielding maize crops could be grown without additional fertiliser.  

It will be more important than ever to get soil tests taken early to diagnose what nutrients are deficient and to make necessary pH adjustments before planting.

Only those elements which will limit production need to be applied, and they should be in the cheapest available form.

This year there has been a lot more demand for alternative waste nutrient sources such as chicken and goat manures, composts, whey, sludges etc. Again, demand and supply have meant the prices of some of these have increased.

With big lifts in the NPKS prices, farmers should consider focussing on some of the micronutrients which haven’t gone up in price as much.

I would anticipate that for many hill country farms, lime will be an option that many will consider this coming season, and farmers will leave phosphate until prices drop back.

Aerial application of lime does have its challenges, in that some agricultural limes are unsuitable for planes, so with limited supply of suitable aerial lime, farmers should get their orders in early and planes booked.

This autumn there has been the usual last minute rush to get fertiliser flown on, and planes have been extremely busy.

I have had one client who has had to cancel his order of cheaper phosphate this month due to not being able to get fertiliser to the airstrip now that we have had significant rain.

Lime jobs by plane take a lot longer to do than fertiliser because of the increased tonnage, so this will put pressure on plane availability.

Unless there is access to a nearby all-weather airstrip, plane application is mainly limited to the drier summer and autumn months.

I consider lime to be a priority fertiliser on many hill country farms, particularly when there is aluminium toxicity. Most soil testing labs do not normally test for aluminium unless specifically requested. For me, it is a go-to element, always tested for, along with micronutrients, in determining what the limitations are to pasture and animal performance.

Ryegrass and white clover are particularly sensitive to aluminium toxicity.

In a four-year lime trial I conducted on western Waikato hill country which had severe aluminium toxicity, pasture DM production almost doubled with capital lime.

The best lime is generally the cheapest per unit of calcium carbonate, so whichever company can supply this, should be the one used, although flyability is an important consideration for hill country. The small cost of a comprehensive independent soil test can pay huge dividends in targeting only those elements which are limiting production, and purchased from the cheapest source.

0 Comments

There are no comments on this blog.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to make a comment. Login Now
Opinion Poll

We're not running a poll right now. Check back soon!