Responding to Escalating Fertilizer Prices

Chris Teutsch, Jimmy Henning, Ray Smith, and John Grove, University of Kentucky 

In 2020, fertilizer prices more than doubled, negatively impacting the profitability of forage-livestock operations in the Commonwealth.  We responded to escalating fertilizer prices be publishing a series of articles and designing and implementing extension programs at the county and state level on weathering high fertilizer prices.  These educational efforts directly or indirectly reached more than 40,000 livestock producers across the Commonwealth and beyond.  Implementation of the strategies outlined in these programs mitigated the negative impact of high fertilizer prices on Kentucky’s forage and livestock producers.  In one post meeting survey, 100% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that one or more of the management practices that they learned would increase the profitability of their operation.