Thune Welcomes President of South Dakota Corn to Provide Insights on Fertilizer Market at Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing

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WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today welcomed Trent Kubik, a farmer from Hamill, South Dakota, and president of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, to testify on the fertilizer market before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry at a hearing entitled "Perspectives on the Fertilizer Industry: Ensuring a Stable and Affordable Supply for American Producers." Thune, a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who introduced legislation in March to provide producers with greater transparency on fertilizer pricing, asked the witnesses questions about the industry and effective ways to reduce input costs for producers.

On supporting South Dakota's producers:

"It's my pleasure … to introduce to the committee Trent Kubik. And he is not only the current president of the South Dakota Corn Growers, but also a farmer and a rancher … I'm very pleased to have him here today and look forward to hearing a South Dakota perspective on this issue."

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"These high input costs, adverse weather conditions, low commodity prices all impact our ag economy, and it's important that Congress continue its work toward long-term solutions that support the entire ag industry. And I am very proud of what we did last summer in the Working Families Tax Cuts to increase reference prices for [Agriculture Risk Coverage] and [Price Loss Coverage], improve crop insurance protection, and update disaster programs.

"But I will say there remains more to be done, and all of the members of this committee know that rising input costs have been eating into producers' bottom lines over the last several years, particularly, I would add, the price of fertilizer. This steep increase would shrink or altogether eliminate any grower's profit margins, even during times of strong commodity prices, so it needs to be addressed."

On the availability of nitrogen in South Dakota:

"[I]t predates current events, but nevertheless … this is something that's going back a long ways. And there are some structural things … here that need to be addressed, which is why we have some of these transparency bills."

On market access in the fertilizer industry:

"As we know, there are a small number of manufacturers who have the lion's share of domestic fertilizer production … In the United States, what percentage of sales for potash, nitrogen, and phosphorus, respectively, to U.S. retailers come from manufacturers other than the largest companies?"

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