August 29, 2024 - At the annual Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA is partnering with American business owners to expand innovative domestic fertiliser production, creating jobs in rural communities and strengthening local economies.
The Department is awarding $35 million for seven projects in seven states through the Fertiliser Production Expansion Program (FPEP), which is funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation. This program provides grants to independent business owners to help them modernise equipment, adopt new technologies, build production plants and more. This funding advances President Biden's Investing in America agenda to grow the nation's economy from the middle out and bottom up.
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"The Biden-Harris Administration continues to make innovative investments that bolster rural communities and support farmers, ranchers and small business owners," Secretary Vilsack said. "The investments announced today will increase domestic fertiliser production and strengthen our supply chain, while creating good-paying jobs to benefit all Americans."
To date, USDA has invested $286.6 million in 64 projects across 32 states through FPEP. These projects have created 768 new jobs in communities across the country and will increase domestic fertiliser production by over 5.6 million tonnes.
These investments will boost domestic fertiliser production and lower costs for US farmers. For example:
- Dramm Corp in Wisconsin will use a $776,000 grant to increase their production capacity and expand their network of customers and farmers while reducing their carbon footprint and increasing employee safety. Using fish offal collected from commercial and sport fishermen, Dramm produces a liquid fish fertiliser suitable for organic and traditional farming while keeping millions of pounds of waste out of landfills and fresh waterways.
- In Virginia, AdvanSix, an ammonium sulphate producer, will expand a facility with an almost $12 million grant. The company currently provides 31,400 ag producers with ammonium sulphate on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Through this project, AdvanSix will expand their operational capacity by 195,000 tonnes per year, increasing total production to more than 36,000 producers.
USDA is also making awards to facilities in California, Iowa, New York, Oregon and Tennessee.
President Biden and USDA created FPEP to combat issues facing American farmers due to rising fertiliser prices, which more than doubled between 2021 and 2022 due to a variety of factors such as war in Ukraine and a lack of competition in the fertiliser industry. The Administration committed up to $900 million through the Commodity Credit Corporation for FPEP. Funding supports long-term investments that will strengthen supply chains, create new economic opportunities for American businesses and support climate-smart innovation.
FPEP is part of a broader effort to help producers boost production and address global food insecurity. It is also one of many ways the Administration is promoting fair competition, innovation and resiliency across food and agriculture while combating the climate crisis.
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The Global MillerThis blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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