The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls agreed to provide a reprieve through April of next year on sanctions on imported potash fertilizers. The fertilizers under sanctions were coming into the U.S. from Belarus.
“This is a win for the American farmer,” says National Corn Growers Association President Chris Edington. “Farmers are having a very hard time getting the fertilizers they need, so a positive development like this could not come at a better time.”
NCGA and other groups were talking with the Treasury Department back in November and expressing concerns that sanctions on potash were resulting in fertilizer shortages across the country.
“The American farmer should not have to suffer for the trade practices of foreign governments or for disagreements with multinational corporations,” Edgington adds. “Yet, that’s exactly what happens when sanctions are put in place.”
In that situation, he says farmers pay the price while others profit.