Difficult Phospate Situation

As has been obvious to everyone, the price of feed phosphates has undergone an almost incredible increase. A number of reasons can be cited for this, including: increased fertilizer needs to support the levels of corn production stimulated by ethanol policy, a worldwide shortage of sulfuric acid needed for some phosphate manufacture, and the extraordinary energy needs for producing of defluorinated phosphates. Whatever the reason, the tripling (possibly quadrupling) of price has demanded the imm...ediate attention of poultry producers. There are several points to consider when developing a strategy in response to the high phosphate prices.