Kansas Corn Growers Association led an effort this week to bring attention to the fertilizer price crisis farmers are facing and to support an effort by Kansas Senator Roger Marshall to move forward a suite of five fertilizer bills to help resolve the issue by increasing price transparency, promoting competition and removing fertilizer trade barriers.

KCGA Board Member Tanner McNinch, Ness City, met with lawmakers and participated in a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing being held to look at fertilizer prices.

“I left the planter sitting idle so I could talk to the legislators and the committee about fertilizer policy that is in dire need of change. The input costs are so high right now for the farmer and right at the top is fertilizer. We need trade relief, we need price transparency, and we need more competition,” McNinch said.

McNinch, with growers from other states, KCGA Director of Policy and Economics Taylor Williamson and National Corn Growers Association staff met with senators to discuss the fertilizer issue and participated in the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing. Williamson said corn grower efforts had a big impact.

“Without a shadow of doubt, we had a positive impact on the fertilizer issue this week. We first engaged in significant efforts to work with the members of the Senate Ag Committee to not only push for a hearing but also to have a corn farmer witness—South Dakota Corn Grower Trent Kubik,” Williamson said. “That led to this week’s fly-in where Kansas Corn leader Tanner McNinch joined growers from nine states visiting fourteen Senate offices on Monday and Tuesday morning leading up to the hearing. Thanks to our work, committee members entered the hearing engaged on this issue and brought a lot of excellent questions at the hearing. Trent did a great job testifying at the hearing and providing information and the corn grower perspective.”

KCGA CEO Josh Roe said having growers in Washington DC to meet directly with key senators had a big impact.

“It takes a lot to ask one of our Kansas Corn leaders to fly to Washington, DC during planting season. The fact that Tanner left his farm at height of planting season is a testament to how important the fertilizer issue is to farmers,” Roe said. “Tanner is a young farmer who directly feels the impact of high input prices now, especially fertilizer prices. He did an excellent job explaining how this impacts the future of his family’s farm.”