US Fertilizer Use Peaked Pre-Recession, Fell During 2021 Supply and Cost Shocks, USDA Reports

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2025 – A report, Drivers of Fertilizer Markets: Supply, Demand, and Prices, released by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, or USDA, has revealed that total US fertilizer consumption of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash between 2009 and 2013 recorded sizeable growth, reaching 21 million metric tons in 2013, the highest level of fertilizer consumption since before the Great Recession began in 2007.

According to the USDA’s ERS report, consumption dropped slightly in 2014 to 20 million metric tons before stabilizing through 2020. In 2021, total fertilizer consumption fell by 9.4 per cent year over year to 18.3 million metric tons.

This drop was led by the market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with rising energy prices, supply chain disruptions, and trade restrictions.

Among the three nutrients, potash saw the biggest decline (down 11 per cent), followed by phosphate (7 per cent) and nitrogen (6 per cent). Nitrogen fertilizer consumption volume is typically more than double the consumption of phosphate and potash, the report said.

On average, from 2006 to 2023, nitrogen fertilizer consistently accounted for the largest share of fertilizer consumption in terms of volume at 59 per cent. Potash made up 22 per cent of fertilizer consumption by volume, and phosphate comprised 19 per cent, with those shares remaining relatively stable during that time.

Notably, fertilizer is a key input in crop production, and changes in its consumption over time reflect how farmers respond to shifting input costs and market conditions.

How Methodical ERS is in Its Fertilizer Report

Best Management Practices: Nitrogen, phosphate, and potash are essential in the production of crops used for food, feed, fiber, and fuel. Applied annually, most of these nutrients are absorbed by the crop, but when applied in excess, they can be lost to the environment through volatilization into the air, leaching into groundwater, emission from soil to air, and runoff into surface water. These losses can be reduced by adopting best management practices (BMPs) that increase nutrient accessibility, enhance plants’ ability to uptake the nutrients, and more closely match nutrient applications with agronomic needs.

Multiple Data Sets: ERS combines ARMS-based estimates with data drawn from other public and proprietary sources to report annual estimates of total fertilizer use in US agriculture in the Fertilizer Use and Price data product. Tables in that product report total use by nutrient, application rates per acre for selected crops, fertilizer materials use, and fertilizer prices. In turn, those data are used to support development of indexes of annual fertilizer use in U.S. agriculture for reporting in the data product Agricultural Productivity in the United States.

How ARMS Input Boosts the Survey Methodology

ERS gathers information on on-farm use of fertilizers through USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey, or ARMS.

ARMS is the US Department of Agriculture’s primary source of information on the production practices, resource use, and economic well-being of America’s farms and ranches. The results of this survey are the only source of information available for objective evaluation of many critical issues related to agriculture and the rural economy.

Farmer participation in ARMS ensures that policymakers and others, including farmers and ranchers themselves, base important decisions on facts straight from the source. ARMS also tells the story of American agriculture to the public, which has less and less direct contact with the farm community.

Producers of nine major field crops — barley, corn, cotton, oats, peanuts, rice, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat — are surveyed in selected years. ERS reports on nutrient applications and application methods for synthetic fertilizers and manure in ARMS Farm Financial and Crop Production Practices tailored reports, which also provide survey documentation and access to the questionnaires.

ERS uses the same ARMS source to develop estimates of fertilizer application costs for each of the nine major field crops surveyed and reports these estimates in the Commodity Costs and Returns data product.

Notably, Congress has reintroduced the Fertilizer Research Act, a bipartisan bill that will empower the USDA to study competition and market factors affecting fertilizer prices. The legislation envisages increasing transparency for farmers, who are at the receiving end of high input costs that are eating into their profits.

To address the financial strain on American farmers, Senators Chuck Grassley, Tammy Baldwin, and Joni Ernst have reintroduced the Fertilizer Research Act.

Fertilizer is a key input in crop production, and changes in its use over time show how farmers respond to shifting costs and market conditions.

Inputs from Saqib malik

Editing by David Ryder