II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3471 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to publish a report on the fertilizer 

industry, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 12, 2023 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, and Ms. ERNST) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to publish a report 

on the fertilizer industry, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fertilizer Research Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FERTILIZER INDUSTRY REPORT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri9 culture, in consultation with the Administrator of the Eco10 nomic Research Service, shall publish on the website of 


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1 the Department of Agriculture a report on the United 

2 States fertilizer industry, including— 

3 (1) a description of the impacts on the fertilizer 

4 industry that influence the prices that agricultural 

5 producers receive for their agricultural products at 

6 the location of the farm; 

7 (2) a description of the current size and value, 

8 and the size and value over the previous 25 years, 

9 of the United States fertilizer market, including— 

10 (A) any trends over the previous 25 years; 

11 and 

12 (B) such sizes and values by each type of 

13 fertilizer; 

14 (3) a description of any patterns in pricing of 

15 fertilizer over the previous 25 years; 

16 (4) a description of the importation of fertilizer 

17 into the United States, including— 

18 (A) a list of types of fertilizer that are im19 ported into the United States, including the 

20 quantity of each type of fertilizer imported; 

21 (B) a list of foreign companies and domes22 tic companies that import into the United 

23 States fertilizer, including the quantity of fer24 tilizer imported by each company; 


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1 (C) a list of the countries from which fer2 tilizer is imported into the United States; and 

3 (D) a description of the impacts that anti4 dumping duties and countervailing duties have 

5 on prices of fertilizer paid at the retail level; 

6 (5) an overview of the manufacturing level, dis7 tribution channels, and retail level of the fertilizer 

8 supply chain, including transportation, logistics, and 

9 supply chain disruptions from natural disasters; 

10 (6) a study of the concentration of the United 

11 States fertilizer industry in United States fertilizer 

12 companies, including an evaluation of the extent to 

13 which concentration has had any anticompetitive im14 pacts; 

15 (7) a description of the prices, crop-use effi16 ciencies, and crop yields of emerging fertilizers and 

17 fertilizer technologies, including biological fertilizers 

18 and other recently developed tools, compared to con19 ventional fertilizers and fertilizer technologies; 

20 (8) an assessment of the regulatory environ21 ment governing fertilizer production, distribution, 

22 and usage, including a description of areas in which 

23 regulatory burden is hampering domestic production, 

24 distribution, and usage of fertilizer; 


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1 (9) a description of the extent to which current 

2 public price reporting of fertilizer is transparent for 

3 market participants and the extent to which further 

4 public price reporting is needed to achieve trans5 parency for market participants, including— 

6 (A) an evaluation of the potential for the 

7 Secretary of Agriculture to establish a fertilizer 

8 reporting mechanism in which the fertilizer in9 dustry is required to report fertilizer prices at 

10 multiple levels of the supply chain on a daily, 

11 weekly, or monthly basis; and 

12 (B) a recommendation to Congress on 

13 whether a reporting mechanism described in 

14 subparagraph (A) should be established; and 

15 (10) a description of the projected growth of 

16 the United States fertilizer market and the antici17 pated economic and political risks to fertilizer pro18 duction as a result of that growth. 

19 (b) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—The report pub20 lished under subsection (a) shall not include any confiden21 tial business information. 

Æ 


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