USDA ERS Fertilizer Use and Price

USDA ERS Fertilizer Use and Price

USDA ERS provides a single Excel workbook of annual U.S. fertilizer consumption, product and nutrient use, farm prices, price indexes, and crop-by-State application shares and rates. Its 32 worksheets cover nitrogen, phosphate and potash measures for corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat, and the download needs no key.

Coverage

National history begins in 1960 and crop nutrient-use data begin in 1964; crop-and-State coverage is limited to surveyed major producing States. Most workbook series currently end between 2014 and 2018: farm prices end in 2014, consumption tables mostly in 2015, and price indexes and several use tables in 2018. ERS describes an annual update schedule, but the checked workbook was last updated October 30, 2019.

Verdict

This supplies slow-moving fertilizer input-cost, consumption and application-intensity signals for crop economics. It is not current enough for near-term price monitoring because major series stop in 2014–2018 and the workbook itself has not changed since 2019. State coverage follows crop surveys and is not a complete panel; the latest sampled States represented differing shares of planted acreage by crop. Series also combine multiple sources with different release schedules.