The Spanish and French Agriculture Ministers Luis Planas and Marc Fesneau believe that the European Union must become 'autonomous' in fertilizer production. They state that guaranteed availability of fertilizer for agriculture is an absolute necessity.
Due to the recent enormous rise in gas prices, several chemical companies have nearly halted their production because more and more farmers can no longer afford it.
On top of that, Russia has openly informed the EU that the gas flagship Nord Stream 2 will not be put into operation. Moreover, Moscow will only reopen the gas taps if the West stops the economic sanctions. This pushes the normalization of European gas imports—and thus the fertilizer market—further out of reach.
The fertilizer manufacturers say there are still sufficient stocks for the coming months, but it is not yet clear how the EU countries will meet their fertilizer and (natural) gas needs. An emergency Energy Summit will be held in Brussels on Friday on this matter.
Last week, Spanish Minister Planas said he believes that the EU can only reduce the use of chemicals in agriculture once alternatives are available. He made this comment not in response to the recent Russian threats but to the food and biodiversity plans presented by the European Commission in June to halve the use of chemicals in agriculture.
These plans by Commissioners Timmermans, Sinkevicius, and Kyriakides are scheduled this autumn on the agendas of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers. According to the current planning, they must be finalized during trilogue negotiations in 2023. This will place the fertilizer dossier on Minister Planas's desk since Spain will hold the rotating EU presidency in the second half of next year.
It is also still unclear ‘if and how’ the EU countries will offer compensation to citizens and businesses for the economic recession caused by the proposed energy transition. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Rutte and Minister Kaag said 'that we will all feel the consequences one way or another, and that this energy transition will be painful.'
So far, it seems that ‘less chemistry in agriculture’ will not so much be a voluntary European choice, but will become a necessity due to unaffordable fertilizer. That the Russian embankment will turn the European farm-to-fork ship…