Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins met representatives of the four major fertilizer companies this past week. In an appearance before a House appropriations subcommittee, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said America needs to invest in fertilizer infrastructure. “The good news is, and Secretary Lutnik has mentioned this over and over, we have a pot of funding through the tariffs and through the trade renegotiations of tens and tens and tens of billions of dollars,” said Rollins. “I can’t announce anything just yet, but we’re going to start deploying some of those resources to begin to build. They won’t come online for 12 to 18 months, but we’ve got to start moving back in that direction.” When asked about high farm input costs, Rollins pointed the finger at the consolidation. “Fertilizer is the crisis of the day, but as soon as we’re past this one, it’ll be seed and then it will be equipment. It is an overarching economic pending disaster with what has happened with the price of these inputs.” She said in all of these areas, a small number of companies have taken over these market categories and eliminated competition.
