U.S. Grain and Fertilizer complex mid 2020 to present.
In 2019-2020 the USDA overestimated the corn carryover by a billion bushels--about half of the normal 2B bu carryover. A large crop was expected in 2020 and the USDA planned to pull the 2020 bin buster backward into the 2019 crop to steady prices. At the time corn hovered at $3.50-$4. The 2020 Iowa Derecho forced the USDA to fold. They reduced the carryover during 9 months starting in August 2020. But the damage was done--too much corn was consumed due to the artificially low price. This is referred to as the "Great Chinese Grain Steal". China knew the USDA was publishing bad numbers and they purchased accordingly.
In 2021 the U.S. needed a huge corn crop to clean this up and it didn't happen. Fuel has crept up since the inauguration (and corn/ethanol), then Ukraine (corn, wheat, sunflower oil exports).
Ukraine provides 35% of the worlds wheat exports. They don't really have a carryover. Nobody will finance the type of grain storage or market carry we have in the U.S. where we routinely hold wheat for 10 years. Current World wheat stocks to use is 37%, which seems adequate, but China holds 60% of that, and they don't export wheat. It's tight for everyone else.
Today December (new crop) corn is trading at $7.30, July wheat at $12, November beans at $15.50. Everything is double what it was in mid 2020. In fact I sold a few bushels of wheat for $4.18 in 2020
Fertilizer in 2020 - Urea 46-0-0 $360/ton, 11-52-0 (Phosphorous) $400/ton, same for potassium chloride $400/ton
Fertilizer--Nitrogen needs to be applied to every crop every year unless it is a legume (soybeans). A typical wheat crop will want 100-130 lbs of N, and a typical corn crop will want a lb per acre per bushel of yield, i.e. 200# for 200 bushels. Rule of thumb only, every farm, field, and crop is different.
Phosphorous and potassium are present at varying amounts throughout the U.S. In Kansas we have high potassium soils so we don't have to supplement much, but we do have to supplement phosphorous. Farther east in the corn belt both potassium and phosphorous are applied per crop removal every year. 200# of both 11-52-0 and 0-0-60 are not unheard of.
Last week I quoted milo (grain sorghum) fertilizer at 110-35-30-6sulfur-1zinc at just north of $1000/ton. I have a yield goal of 100 bushels/acre and it will cost $165/acre for fertilizer. My yields range from 40-140 bushels/acre. Every bushel goes to China. A corn farmer would use double this fertilizer amount.
Fertilizer shortages are non existent in my area. Koch is the largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer in the central U.S. They base the fertilizer price on the new crop corn price, and margins are thick. Koch won't miss out on this. This is not a knock on Koch, I have never met a Koch employee that I immediately disliked.
Phosphorous and potash are a game of chicken. The manufacturers have prices set very high and farmers are cutting back on usage (it's not as immediately punitive as cutting nitrogen). Fertilizer retailers don't want to be caught holding the bag if commodities drop 25% (likely).
Herbicides have mostly doubled since last year. Most of our herbicides come from India and China. Farmers have been "hoarding" but this currently means taking delivery before the season starts instead of waiting until the day before application.
Two more things. Manure--almost all manure is utilized in the U.S. We export 1/3 of our grain and either eat or feed the rest. There will never be enough manure while we export.
Ethanol--Average U.S. corn yield is 180 bu/a and soybeans are 55 bu/a. Ethanol takes a bushel of corn and creates 1/3 Ethanol, 1/3 CO2, 1/3 Distillers Grain. Distillers grain is a substitute for soybean meal. An acre of corn grown for ethanol produces the ethanol plus more feed than an acre of soybeans. Regardless, corn ethanol's only major upside is the massive corn crop it promotes, and its associated food security.