Cereal farmer Stephen Allard said, “Fertiliser prices have increased from £150 per tonne to £330 per tonne during the last year as a result of the increasing fuel prices. Natural gas accounts for a significantly large proportion of the cost of producing nitrogen making it too expensive for the average farmer”. 

“When faced with the mounting costs, options such as rotating crops and use of manure seem much more attractive as it brings back the control into the hands of the farmer and we are no longer totally at the mercy of the market”, said wheat farmer Anthony Rew. 

“There has been some uncertainty among farmers over the fertiliser market since last year’s merger of fertiliser producers Terra and Kemira into GrowHow as a result of which UK only has a single fertiliser manufacturer”, said P.J. Jennings and Associates farm consultant Peter Jennings.

According to Mr. Jennings, farmers have weighed their options and have chosen to use the by-products of the industry to bring down their skyrocketing input costs.

Rising costs force farmers to go traditional