Fertilizer prices aren’t the only ones going up for the 2022 season. Herbicide prices are on the rise too, and availability will be limited. Purdue University Professor of Weed Science Dr. Bill Johnson says there are many reasons for the price hike and shortage.
“Not being able to get containers unloaded at the ports to a shortage of trucks and truck drivers to get them to the formulation plants to shortages of the formulation materials to even shortages of the materials that they’re packaged in. So, it’s kind of all over the board and this is what happens when 80 percent of your main active ingredient, glyphosate, comes from overseas. It’s going to be subject to a number of different things that can affect the availability of this product to the growers.”
With glyphosate in short supply, Johnson talks about what’s happening to prices.
“We’re already, on November 22, hearing about glyphosate prices at $60 a gallon. 18 months ago, glyphosate prices were $10 a gallon. So, it’s increased by 6-fold in just 18 months. We’re hearing that by the time we get to delivery next spring, it could be as high as $80 a gallon. We’re also hearing that many of the retailers are not going to set a glyphosate price until they actually have the inventory on their docks.”
Johnson says growers have already placed a high demand on storing their own herbicide so they have it available for next season and retailers now have practically empty warehouses. Johnson puts that in perspective, saying even the farm stores are starting to ration glyphosate sales.
“I was down at Rural King yesterday. Rural King limits customers to two 2.5-gallon jugs of glyphosate per customer, per day. So, they are already rationing glyphosate out of the farm stores on more consumer sized containers.”
So, what can you do if glyphosate is unavailable? Johnson discusses potential plans of action in the latest Purdue Crop Chat Podcast found below.