The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is awarding $35 million in grants to American businesses to expand domestic fertiliser production.
The funding is being allocated to seven projects across seven US states under the Fertiliser Production Expansion Programme (FPEP).
The programme provides grants to independent business owners to help them modernise equipment, adopt new technologies, build production plants and more.
Fertiliser
To date, USDA has invested $286.6 million in 64 projects across 32 states through the FPEP.
These projects will increase domestic fertiliser production by over 5.6 million tonnes and have created 768 new jobs.
The latest round of USDA grants have been awarded to facilities in California, Iowa, New York, Oregon, Wisconsin, Virginia and Tennessee.
In Virginia, AdvanSix, an ammonium sulfate producer, will expand a facility with an almost $12 million grant.
The company currently provides 31,400 agricultural producers with ammonium sulfate 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.
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.
The company uses fish offal collected from commercial and sport fishermen to produce a liquid fish fertiliser suitable for organic and traditional farming.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said that the investments will boost domestic fertiliser production and lower costs for US farmers.
“The Biden-Harris Administration continues to make innovative investments that bolster rural communities and support farmers, ranchers and small business owners.
“The investments announced today will increase domestic fertiliser production and strengthen our supply chain, while creating good-paying jobs to benefit all Americans,” he said.
USDA said that the FPEP was created by US President Joe Biden and the department to combat issues facing American farmers due to rising fertiliser prices, which more than doubled between 2021 and 2022.
The department said this is due to a variety of factors such as war in Ukraine and a lack of competition in the fertiliser industry.
The administration has committed up to $900 million through the Commodity Credit Corporation for FPEP.