Energy crisis hits agriculture: Yields could "slump by 30 to 40 percent immediately"

Created: 09/26/2022, 16:10

By: Lucas Maier

As a result of the energy crisis, the price of fertilizer is rising drastically.

The German Farmers' Association makes demands on politicians.

Kassel – The energy crisis is hitting more and more industries.

Many branches work with products that require a lot of gas to produce.

As early as mid-September, the beverage industry warned that parts of the industry might not survive the crisis.

It was also about carbonic acid, which the companies are currently lacking.

The logistics industry announced something similar.

There was a warning about an acute deficiency of the urea Adblue.

Adblue is only a by-product of fertilizer production and is therefore becoming scarce because it has been throttled due to gas prices.

That's why the farmers' association is now sounding the alarm, as the

writes.

Agriculture in Germany: Without fertilizer, the harvest could collapse

If the nitrogen fertilizer runs out, "yields would immediately drop by 30 to 40 percent," said Farmers' Association President Joachim Rukwied, explaining the situation to the

.

Against this background, the German Farmers' Association has called on politicians to set up a fertilizer reserve.

According to the association, the government must recognize “that fertilizers are also systemically important,” said Rukwied.

Energy crisis: farmers' association sounds the alarm.

(Archive image) © Jens Büttner/dpa

At the beginning of September, the farmers' association called for a suspension of tariffs on fertilizers.

The association is thus based on a proposal by the EU Commission, which provided for a suspension of tariffs for urea and ammonia, as stated in the communication from the

.

Energy Crisis: Agriculture will have to resort to imports

"In the coming year, local agriculture will have to resort much more to imports of nitrogen fertilizers," warns the Vice President of the German Farmers' Association, Detlef Kurreck.

In the production of most fertilizers, gas is used both as an energy supplier and as a raw material, as the

writes.

The change in fertilizer sales at a glance:

• Developments in domestic sales of fertilizers (import and domestic production)

• Phosphate fertilizer:

  Here, annual sales have halved to around 14,000 tons.

• Potash fertilizer:

  A minus of 52.3 percent ensured that sales only fell to 55,900 potassium oxide.

• Nitrogen fertilizer:

  The amount of nitrogen fertilizer fell by only 18.5 percent.

  Here it was last 238,000 tons.

• Lime fertilizer:

  Sales of this product remained almost unchanged.

• Import:

  2.1 million tons of fertilizers based on phosphate, nitrogen or potassium were imported to Germany in the first half of 2022.

  That is a drop of eleven percent compared to the previous year.

• Export:

  Fertilizer exports have also decreased.

  A total of 4.6 million tons were exported, which represents a decrease of 3.9 percent.

• Source: Federal Statistical Office

As a result of the high gas prices, many fertilizer productions are being cut back, which is driving up fertilizer prices.

Compared to the previous year, producer prices for fertilizers and nitrogen compounds rose by 108.8 percent in August, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office.

Already in the first month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price of fertilizer was 87.2 percent higher than the previous year's level.

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Several sub-organizations of the German Farmers' Association have also sent a joint letter to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck (The Greens).

In it they call for quick financial help for the fruit, vegetable, potato and horticultural industry, as reported by the

.

"A collapse in production cannot be ruled out," the statement said.

The German Farmers' Association makes it clear that companies that produce fruit, vegetables and potatoes will be hit particularly hard by the energy crisis due to the energy-intensive work steps involved.

It remains to be seen whether politicians will respond to the calls for help, for fertilizer reserves and financial aid, and what the consequences will be.

(Lucas Maier)