Fertilizer Use and Price

This product summarizes fertilizer consumption in the United States by plant nutrient and major fertilizer products—as well as consumption of mixed fertilizers, secondary nutrients, and micronutrients—for 1960 through the latest year for which statistics are available. The share of planted crop acreage receiving fertilizer, and fertilizer applications per receiving acre (by nutrient), are presented for major producing States for corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat (data on nutrient consumption by crop start in 1964). Fertilizer farm prices and indices of wholesale fertilizer prices are also available.

Fertilizer price data (table 7) are available through 2014 (the supporting USDA survey, on annual prices paid, has been discontinued). Fertilizer price indexes (table 8) have been updated through 2018.

Aggregate data on fertilizer consumption and use must be assembled from multiple sources with varying release dates. Table 1 (U.S. consumption of plant nutrients) has been updated through 2015, while table 2 (Estimated U.S. plant nutrient use by selected crops) has been updated through 2018. Tables 3-6 (U.S. consumption of single, multiple, and secondary/micro nutrients; U.S. consumption of selected nitrogen materials; U.S. consumption of selected nitrogen/phosphate/potash materials; and U.S. consumption of selected secondary, micronutrients, and natural organic materials) have been updated through 2015. 

Crop-specific fertilizer application estimates are derived from USDA surveys covering selected crops in selected years: data for corn (tables 9-14) extend through 2018; while data for cotton (tables 15-20) and wheat (tables 27-32) have been updated through 2017. Data on soybeans (tables 21-26) have been updated through 2018. Crop-specific updates depend on the survey release schedules of USDA's Agricultural Resource Management Survey and USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service's Agricultural Chemical Use Program data. See Documentation for details.

Tables are in Excel spreadsheet format; a single workbook contains all tables as individual worksheets. See Documentation for a list of tables included in the workbook.