- Video shows a Hanover farmer, Nick Seffernick, explaining how he expects tariffs on fertilizer to impact local farmers.
- As of Tuesday, goods from Canada will see a 25% tariff.
- A majority of one fertilizer ingredient, potash, comes from Canada.
- Jon LaPorte, MSU Extension, breaks down how tariffs will impact farming costs.
At Seffernick Farms in Hanover, they grow corn and soybeans, spending about $42,000 per year on fertilizer. "The price of potash has gone up a little," says Nick Seffernick. Potash is a fertilizer ingredient, and a majority of potash used in the United States comes from Canada. As of Tuesday, there's a 25% tariff on Canadian goods. Seffernick is sharing his take on what this could mean for farmers and shoppers at the grocery store. "25% is a big jump," says Seffernick. "People will just put less (fertilizer) down, which means we'll grow less, then in the fall, things will be a little more expensive, like corn, beans, (and) wheat."
Jon LaPorte, Farm Business Management Educator, helps farmers think through business decisions, through the MSU Extension. He breaks down what this tariff could mean:
He says, "In the short term, it's definitely going to make things tighter for the farmer, and eventually, that will trickle down to the folks at the grocery store in a lot of different ways."
WATCH: LaPorte breaks down the significance of that 1% cost:
He says the longer-term is harder to predict, while Seffernick says he expects to see the prices even out, eventually. "The next six, eight months might be a little more difficult, but I think over a long enough time frame, it'll go back to normal," says Seffernick.
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