NFU Scotland is calling on the UK Government to recognise the strategic importance of fertiliser and, given the growing food security crisis, put support for domestic production in place.
The call comes following the recent UK Government summit on fertiliser, hosted by Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries Mark Spencer MP and attended by NFU Scotland’s Combinable Crops Committee chair Willie Thomson.
Mr Thomson said: “Growers have had a great year with great weather and great yields, but we cannot take our foot off the pedal when it comes to fertiliser costs and availability in 2023. The exceptional rise in input costs across the board is hitting growers hard but a 200 percent increase in fertiliser prices, driven primarily by the dreadful war in Ukraine makes planning arable production in 2023 very difficult.
“We welcomed the opportunity to meet with Minister Mark Spencer and look to the UK Government to support domestic fertiliser production, recognising that it is a strategically important industry for the resilience of Scottish and British food production, and Scotland’s rural economy. It must also consider the importance of fertiliser to future food security when it makes its delayed interim review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme sometime early next year.
“We also need to investigate why fertiliser is cheaper in parts of Europe, including France than in the UK and we welcome a commitment at the meeting to progress fertiliser market transparency work. As part of that work, we will look to the UK Government to assess and, where necessary, improve port and rail capacity to support fertiliser imports to all parts of Great Britain.
“The Scottish Government also has a key role to ensure Scottish farmers continue to make the most of costly fertilisers. It must support the development and uptake of innovations to improve nutrient use efficiency, particularly the precision application of fertiliser through capital grants and innovation support.
“This will reduce the amount of nitrogen lost to the air and water, and will improve crop quality, delivering on the Scottish Government’s climate mitigation, nature restoration, and high-quality food production policy priorities.
“Many Scottish farmers are already playing their part. At farm level, soil testing, nutrient management plans, incorporating livestock and organic manures, cover cropping and bi-cropping are all viable longer-term actions that make our systems more resilient, but as we transition there is a real possibility we could see the prohibitive price of nitrogen fertilisers in the UK impact directly on production levels.
“The reality is that changes to our arable production may already be happening. I urge all growers in Scotland to complete NFU Scotland’s intentions survey at
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NFUSintentionsurvey so that we can assess the scale of change that unprecedented input costs and flat-lining output prices are having on Scottish arable farm business plans.”
Ends
Contact Bob Carruth on 07788 927675