Crop input supply expected to remain tight for near future

Mar 01, 2023

The man who leads the world’s largest supplier of crop nutrients says there’s no quick relief in sight for tight global supplies of nitrogen and potash.

During a presentation at the Food, Fuel and Fertilizer Business Summit held in Saskatoon Feb. 14-15, Nutrien president and chief executive officer Ken Seitz said the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine will continue to limit global supplies of critical farm inputs.

Global demand for nitrogen and potash is expected to remain strong as farmers in major food exporting nations focus on maximizing yields to make up for declining agricultural output in Ukraine, he added.

In a nutshell, all signals point to a positive business outlook for Nutrien, which recently announced plans to boost potash production in Saskatchewan to 18 million tonnes annually by 2026, up from 13 million tonnes in 2021.

“Geopolitical events caused an unprecedented level of supply disruption and market volatility across agriculture, energy and fertilizer markets in 2022,” Seitz said, following the release of Nutrien’s fourth quarter and full-year 2022 financial results.

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Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.