Neeley's Favorite Story of 2023

Editor's Note:

December naturally has us thinking back over the year that was, including the stories we've created. So, we've again asked DTN/Progressive Farmer writers to think back on their year and choose a favorite story from the archive. They range from hard-hitting investigative journalism and national scoops to farm family features and fun discoveries made while traveling U.S. farm country. We hope you enjoy our writers' favorites, with today's story by DTN Staff Reporter Todd Neeley.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- In March of 2023, USDA announced it had doled out $29 million in grants to companies to expand fertilizer production at a time when farmers were fighting higher overall fertilizer prices.

Though the agency's announcement came with a fair amount of fanfare about how the resulting fertilizer production expansion would help farmers combat higher prices down the road, DTN Staff Reporter Russ Quinn and I decided to look into exactly what the eight companies would be doing with the millions of dollars awarded.

What we found was that although 87% of all fertilizer produced in North America is by five companies -- CF Industries Holdings, Inc., Nutrien Ltd., The Mosaic Co., Wilbur-Ellis Company LLC and Yara International ASA -- none of those companies were among the eight grant recipients.

This is my favorite story of the year because it went beyond press releases to look at how the grants would affect life in the real world, so to speak, and talk about other companies that also applied and didn't make the cut.

The investigative story concluded that while USDA's grants would help to spark some novel fertilizer technologies, they would in fact not have any discernable effect on overall fertilizer availability or price for farmers.

We calculated that the grants would lead to the expansion of fertilizer production by just 406,400 tons per year, or a mere 0.02% of the 21 million metric tons produced in the U.S. in 2020.

Notably, more than 350 companies applied for the grants and the USDA narrowed it down to 21 companies, and then again down to eight.

Our conclusion: The USDA announcement had little to do with expanding domestic fertilizer production.

The story was an example of how sometimes the best journalism comes in the form of asking and answering a simple question reflected in the headline of the story: Do USDA Fertilizer Grants Bump Supply? (See full story at https://www.dtnpf.com/…)

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DTNeeley

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