Vilsack: No Quick Fix for High Fertilizer Prices

What can be done about the sky rocketing prices of fertilizers and other inputs?

"There's no silver bullet and I wish there were; we certainly would be on top of it," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently told lawmakers. He said farmers are seeing are the result of many different situations coming together.

"Part of it has to do with global demand, part of it has to do with the decisions of other countries to prevent resources come to the U.S."

But again, there's no immediate answer to that. But longer term, Vilsack says:

"One thing we should do is take a look at ways we could be less dependent on outside sources and resources for these materials so that we don't face export controls as we're facing today."

But meanwhile, for today, Vilsack says farmers this next season will, perhaps, reduce fertilizer use and do everything else they can to  help with those high input prices.

"Its a challenge, there's no doubt about it."

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