New Fertilizer Fund Boosts Farm Supply

Jul 08, 2026
By Farms.com

New FIELDS initiative invests in domestic fertilizer production and supply

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched the Fertilizer Investment and Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) Program, a new initiative aimed at increasing fertilizer production across the United States.

The program provides $500 million in funding to support the construction and expansion of fertilizer manufacturing facilities. Administered by USDA Rural Development, the initiative focuses on strengthening domestic production capacity and improving long-term fertilizer availability for farmers.

"For decades, American farmers were forced to rely on unstable foreign suppliers for one of the most important inputs needed to feed our nation. Today we are announcing a plan to end this consolidation and bring competition back to the American fertilizer industry," said Secretary Brooke L. Rollins.

She added, "Under President Trump's leadership, USDA is rebuilding America's fertilizer manufacturing base, strengthening supply chains, and ensuring our producers have reliable and affordable access to the fertilizer they need to remain competitive. The Trump Administration’s FIELDS program is solely focused on producing fertilizer and creating American jobs."

FIELDS will support projects that produce key fertilizer ingredients such as nitrogen, phosphate, potash, sulfur, and other essential nutrients used in crop production. USDA stated that priority will be given to projects that are construction-ready, financially sound, and capable of delivering measurable increases in production.

Officials developed the program after reviewing more than 120 fertilizer-related projects and identifying common challenges involving financing and construction. The lessons learned helped shape a program focused on practical projects with clear outcomes.

The initiative also supports broader efforts to strengthen the fertilizer market, improve competition, and enhance supply chain resilience. USDA says these actions are designed to help farmers manage input costs while ensuring adequate fertilizer supplies in the future.

Individual awards will range from $15 million to $150 million. Eligible organizations can submit applications electronically through Grants.gov. The application deadline is August 15, 2026.

USDA believes the investment will help strengthen U.S. agriculture, support rural economies, create jobs, and build a more secure fertilizer supply chain that benefits farmers for years to come.

Photo Credit: istock-fotokostic

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators