Rising cost for fertilizers: are European crop farmers replacing them with manure?

The rising cost of mineral fertilizers is unaffordable for European crop farmers, says Marat Makarov. The Weekly Top Fake team checks whether it is true.

Why are protesting farmers pouring manure on administrative buildings in Europe? The head of the state Belarusian TV channel ONT, Marat Markov, spoke about the reasons for this on the air of Alfa Radio on February 21.

“The cost, which is currently offered by the Canadian Nutrien, the monopolist on the market today, doubled at once. And it is prohibitive for a large number of farms. Where do they get so much manure with which they fertilize the streets of European cities? They are forced to fertilize their fields with this manure,” he claimed.

The price of potassium chloride on the market has doubled in 2021. One of the reasons was trade restrictions on Belarusian potassium (the BIC covered the story of how Belarus bypasses sanctions).

After the start of the war, restrictions on Russian potassium were imposed. As a result, its cost approximately doubled. But, throughout last year, fertilizer prices continued a year-long decline from the 2022 peak.

As of February 2024, prices have gone back to the level of three years ago.

Other fakes of week:

Lazutkin underestimated the willingness of Europeans to defend their countries

Bernstein contrasted pensions in Latvia with contributions to “NATO’s coffers.” However, he mixed up the amounts and agencies

Are minorities more important than the majority in the EU? We fact-checked Piatrouski’s statements regarding the Treaty of Lisbon

Participants in a Belarus 4. Brest talk show claimed that living standards are falling in the Baltic States while Belarus’s economy is accelerating. WTF fact-checked the claims against wage and GDP data

After YouTube removed the channels, Eismant claimed that state media content had received a “huge increase” in views on other platforms. We checked publicly available data

Is the rising cost of fertilizer forcing crop farmers to use manure instead? Let's check the claim of the state-run TV head