Food prices continue to rise with the ongoing inflation rate, an agricultural expert says a critical component of farming is trending in a high direction and could add to the problem.

Guthrie County Agronomist Mike Witt says that prices for nitrogen and other key components of fertilizer are up along other sources like potash, DAP ( diammonium phosphate) and MAP (Monoammonium phosphate).  Witt explains that the rise in fertilizer prices could cause farmers to lose profitability and also it can be passed down to the consumer. 

“If you think about cattle and you think about pigs, a lot of the corn that we produce in the state of Iowa is utilized for feed for some of those animals. So if the cost to feed those animals goes up, then that in turn goes to the consumers and that’s where some of the prices increase in those ways.”

Witt states that a lot of these price jumps are because of the pandemic and supply chain issues. 

“Those are going to be those global markets are kind of some of the reasons why we’ve seen some of these spikes. But I haven’t seen anything like this quite to this level in my time out there.”

He advises farmers to take advantage of good market prices when they can.