22. #Fertiliser: Tackling the fertiliser crisis

Europe’s fertiliser industry has been hit front and side in the past few years: during and after the Covid outbreak in 2020, when many fertiliser factories had to close and struggled to re-launch operations amid rising costs for energy and raw materials. Then, war in Ukraine dramatically affected supplies, not just from Ukraine, but from neighbouring Russia and Belarus too. All three represent about a third of Europe’s fertiliser imports. Now, it’s a full-fledged crisis, with farmers facing fourfold price increases in some cases and many cutting back on, or cutting out altogether, fertilising their land. That in turn threatens next year’s yields and could drive up food prices even further. On November 10 the EU unveiled its latest response, announcing extra measures to help farmers and the industry. And not just in Europe, but in other parts of the world which can’t afford to subsidize or compensate their food and fertiliser producers. This latest episode in DG Agri’s Food for Europe podcast series throws the spotlight on fertilisers from all angles: farmers, producers and policy makers. Our keynote guest is Janusz Wojciechowski, the EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, who spells out the causes of the current crisis and potential future threats, and who has some short-term solutions. He’s joined by a cereals farmer in France’s breadbasket region of La Beauce, cornered as it is by a perfect storm of negative events. He is seeing the effects play out before his eyes with the closure of his village bakery. We also talk to a specialist in biowaste alternatives, advocating greener fertilising, and to an industry representative.