"This figure is based purely on our own estimates," stressed Yara's John Moore. "More significant though is the lack of soil testing that has been carried out over the past 12 months.
"Whether it's because farmers are trying to cut costs or have the notion that a zero P approach is the way forward in all instances, the reality is that many crops currently in the ground are not bulking up due to a lack of available phosphate.
"We have already seen this with first cut silage yields. They are well down on last year. And the dry weather of May and early June was not the only contributory factor in this regard. We have now had a number of years where a zero P policy has been followed on local farms, to the extent that we now
have farmers requesting Triple Super Phosphate in order to get their land back into proper shape. Soil testing is the only way by which farmers can implement a fertiliser policy based on the exact nutrient requirements of crops. And not to soil test represents a false economy in this regard."
John Moore confirmed that fertiliser prices have increased steadily since the beginning of the year. CAN is currently available on farm at between £280 and £290 per tonne.
"Strengthening oil prices are only partly responsible for these increases. The most important factor of all, however, is the growth in demand for fertiliser in countries around the world,'' he pointed out,
"We have now reached the stage where international fertiliser usage is significantly outstripping manufacturers' capacity to produce the material required. We recently lost out on a shipment of silage grade fertiliser because a distributor in
Thailand was able to outbid us by £100 per tonne."
The bad news for farming in Northern Ireland is that the international fertiliser market shows no sign of cooling down.
"The figures I have seen point to Ammonium Nitrate, that's the equivalent of 34%N, making around £450 per tonne in December. This equates to CAN prices in Northern Ireland of around £400 per tonne," said John Moore.
"And, in my opinion, prices of this magnitude make soil testing an absolute necessity on every farm.''