WINNIPEG, October 17 (CNS) – Farmers may be looking to fill up on nitrogen fertilizer this fall as prices reach lows not seen in over a decade.
“One retailer I talked to said it was the cheapest nitrogen prices in 15 years,” according to Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers in Manitoba.
He adds prices also seem to be softer for phosphate, although not nearly to the extent as nitrogen.
He says having a good canola crop this year has helped sharpen attention on fertilizer.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
“Everybody is doing their best to get those nutrients back into the system before spring seeding,” said Mazier.
In Saskatchewan, it’s a similar story with some key twists.
According to Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, prices are down but he’s not certain it will mean more fertilizer will be applied than usual.
Lewis notes cheap prices for fertilizer don’t mean as much when you don’t have the moisture to go along with it.
“We were so dry this year,” he said, referring in particular to southern Saskatchewan.
Heading closer to spring, he expects commodity prices will influence whether additional applications will be made.
“If canola is strong in price in the spring, guys may put on a touch more,” he said.
