TOPEKA (KSNT) – Federal officials have announced a large-scale investment in the nation’s agriculture industry Thursday to support fertilizer manufacturing.
Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Oct. 22 in Nebraska that eight fertilizer manufacturing projects will be receiving over $1.34 billion in aid. The pair said this will come through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) Program.
“I was proud to be in Nebraska today to announce 1.3 billion dollars of investment in domestic fertilizer manufacturing right here in the United States,” Vance said. “1.87 million farmers who are farming over 8.74 million acres all across the United States of America are going to have fertilizer at lower costs that is made by Americans.”
One of the projects selected as part of this aid disbursement is located in Lewis, Kansas and Fair Oaks, Indiana. USDA officials anticipate $116.9 million will help develop two fertilizer manufacturing facilities in these cities to convert dairy manure into 4,100 tons of liquid ammonium nitrate fertilizer each year to boost domestic fertilizer production capacity.
USDA officials said the funding is meant to enhance domestic fertilizer manufacturing, bring down the U.S.’s reliance on suppliers from abroad and increase long-term fertilizer availability for the nation’s farmers. This comes shortly after President Donald Trump announced $8 billion in federal aid for farmers through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program.
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“Farm security is national security,” Rollins said. “America cannot afford to depend on foreign nations for the fertilizer needed to grow our food and feed our families. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking decisive action to rebuild America’s fertilizer manufacturing base and bring critical production back to American soil. By redirecting funding from failed Biden-era projects toward financially viable, shovel-ready investments, we are putting taxpayer dollars to work for American farmers, strengthening our national security, and ensuring that the next generation of producers has access to a reliable domestic fertilizer supply.”
USDA officials said the projects selected as part of this new aid disbursement are anticipated to help increase competition in the nation’s fertilizer industry and reverse existing trends of consolidation. Each of the eight projects will support new and expanded manufacturing capacity for nitrogen, potassium, sulfur and phosphorus fertilizers.
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