Ag leaders discuss market, environmental concerns (Iowa Farmers) 

Iowa Farmers published an article stating that there are a lot of issues facing agriculture this spring, but two that generate a great deal of discussion are Waters of the United States (WOTUS) and Ukraine. Senior research fellow Joseph Glauber said, “Even prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we had high (commodity and input) prices.” Prior to the war, it appeared those prices would likely settle down and moderate by the end of 2022, Glauber said. The war changed that outlook. It isn’t difficult to see why that is the case. About 30 percent of the world’s wheat exports come from the Black Sea region, he said. About 75 percent of the sunflower oil comes from either Russia or Ukraine. Now there are questions about movement of whatever is left of last year’s crop and about whether this year’s crop will get planted and whether the port facilities to ship that crop will be destroyed. “Those are huge question marks.” Senior research fellow David Laborde spoke about fertilizer and fertilizer ingredients. He said, “There are also questions in regards to inputs such as potash. While the United States gets most of its potash from Canada, about 40% of the world supply comes from Russia and Belarus, so prices are going up everywhere.”