Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced three additional actions the Trump administration is taking to boost domestic fertilizer production.
Flanked by Republican lawmakers and Cabinet officials at a May 19 press conference at USDA, Rollins said the permitting for a new CF Industries ammonia plant in Louisiana should be completed within 45 days. When fully constructed, the $3.7 billion facility will be the world’s largest ammonia plant, she said.
The new Louisiana facility is in Ascension Parish less than 10 miles from the existing CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Complex near the Mississippi River. According to company information, construction of the new facility will take about four years. When complete, it is expected to produce about 1.4 million metric tons of low-carbon ammonia.
“We’re so excited about not only the fertilizer implications of that, but the hundreds and hundreds of jobs that will come along with it for the great state of Louisiana,” Rollins said.
Biden-era fertilizer program revised
A second action will be a return to the Biden administration’s Fertilizer Product Expansion Program, along with major changes. The $778 million FPEP was announced in 2022 to deal with skyrocketing fertilizer prices driven largely by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as lingering pandemic-era supply chain constraints. It was intended to increase fertilizer output by providing grants to fertilizer producers.
The Trump administration has added additional funding to the program. It also removed provisions that encouraged more environmentally friendly processes.
According to Rollins, those climate provisions stalled many of the projects that were being funded by grants. She said the revised program will allow fertilizer production facilities in Washington and Iowa to proceed, eventually adding an additional 2 million tons of annual fertilizer production capacity.
“I think that this is a really important long-term step, but we’re taking these steps immediately to get to the goal of reshoring all fertilizer to our country,” Rollins said.
Marketplace transparency sought
USDA’s third action will be hiring a full-time input economist to increase transparency within the marketplace. During a Senate Ag Committee hearing on fertilizer May 12, multiple lawmakers called on USDA to provide greater transparency within the fertilizer market.
Officials with The Fertilizer Institute, which represents fertilizer producers, said they welcomed the decision.
“TFI thanks Secretary Rollins for hearing the concerns of farmers across the country and advancing practical solutions that support market transparency and provide farmers with additional tools and information to help navigate volatility in a global fertilizer marketplace,” said Corey Rosenbusch, TFI president and CEO. “Improving access to timely, consistent and reliable market information can help strengthen understanding of fertilizer and crop input markets across the agricultural economy, including the important distinction between domestic production capacity and overall market share in a globally traded fertilizer marketplace.”