Leah Douglas

(Reuters) – Farmers asked the U.S. Department of Justice for an investigation into whether the recent price spikes in fertilizer have been caused by market manipulation by fertilizer firms, according to a Wednesday letter from the Family Farm Action Alliance.

The group, which has more than 6,000 farmer and rural members, alleges fertilizer companies are setting prices “not based on basic supply and demand, but rather on the price the farmer is paid for their commodity crops.”

Due to record prices for fertilizer, as well as severe storms that disrupted production in the United States this year, global prices are at an all-time high.

The farm group claims that fertilizer companies could be raising prices to compensate for high commodity prices.

Consolidation in the U.S. fertilizer sector has reduced the number of firms from 46 to 13. There are two companies. Nutrien According to a 2020 Federal Trade Commission report, 93% of North American potash markets are controlled by Mosaic Co (NYSE 🙂 Ltd. Other prominent firms include Yara-USA, CF Industries (NYSE :), and others.

“There’s a potential in the way this industry is structured to really exploit farmers,” said Dr. Philip Howard, associate professor at Michigan State University and expert on food industry consolidation.

Ben Pratt (senior vice president, public affairs, Mosaic), denied that fertilizer firms set the prices. He said that the current price spike was due to “curtailed imports from certain countries including China” and “strong global demand,” among other factors.

Three other top fertilizer companies didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.

Also, the DOJ did not respond immediately to our request for comment.

Biden’s administration pledges to act on consolidation in the agriculture sector, which is what farmers claim reduces their profit margins.

Recent DOJ investigations into price fixing allegations by major poultry companies led to several arrests and price manipulation on the cattle market.

Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture recently stated that his department would look at seed patents.