Section: CRUFI Comment

The late autumn gloom has darkened in recent weeks, as Europe slipped back into a lockdown that seemed as inevitable as the encroaching winter.

“There can be no life without soil, and no soil without life.” An insightful quote from Charles Kellogg, the renowned former chief of USDA’s soils bureau.

The fertilizer market remains a commodity market. The three major nutrients N, P and K, more often than not, are supplied through four main products: urea, diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate (DAP and MAP) and potassium chloride (MOP). Combined world consumption of these long-standing, globally-traded commodities is north of 300 million tonnes annually.

The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has abruptly ended lives and livelihoods during its pernicious and inexorable spread across the globe. The fertilizer industry has not been immune to its parlous effects.

The end of winter each year is always a good time to reflect on the state of the fertilizer industry. This year was no exception with the usual flurry of fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2019 emerging mid-February. Less of a flurry, actually, more of an avalanche.

Anyone who lives in or visits England’s green and pleasant land is probably familiar with the Countryside Code. This benign if paternalistic piece of government advice dates back to the 1930s. Yet its simple, clear and sensible message still holds true today: