Georgia’s agriculture officials are closely monitoring efforts in Canada to resolve a rail labor dispute, because Peach State growers are reliant on Canada for a key ingredient in fertilizer.
Canada is the world’s largest producer and the United States’ main supplier of potash, which is potassium chloride used for fertilizer to increase crop yield and disease resistance. Canada has underground deposits of potash in Saskatchewan that are mined and extracted, according to the Canadian government.
While there is movement toward resolution of the labor dispute affecting Canadian railroads, it has not yet been fully resolved.
“This is a big concern, because Canada is one of the largest suppliers of potash worldwide and especially to the U.S.,” said Glen Harris, an agronomist and professor emeritus at the University of Georgia. “It could really drastically decrease crop yields if we can’t get potassium fertilizer.”
Teamsters Canada Rail went on strike against Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad on Thursday. CPKC and another Canadian railroad, CN Rail, locked out workers.
Canadian labor minister Steven MacKinnon issued a written statement later Thursday saying it was his duty to “secure industrial peace,” and he directed Canada’s Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration and “for operations on both railways to resume forthwith.”
Following the order, CN ended its lockout Thursday evening with the Teamsters saying workers were returning to work Friday.
While CPKC said it was prepared to restart rail operations in Canada after the order, the Teamsters said Friday their work stoppage at CPKC was continuing, pending an order from Canada’s Industrial Relations Board.
And on Friday morning, the Teamsters also served to CN a notice of its intent to strike Monday morning, if a deal could not be reached.
Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said state officials are “closely monitoring the situation in Canada,” and looking into how they may be able to assist producers if the strike continues.
“… If the rail workers strike continues, we could see significant, negative impacts on Georgia farmers, including delays in input and commodity deliveries, shortages, and price volatility — for both farmers and consumers,” Harper said in a written statement Friday. “While we’re hopeful this will be resolved in a timely manner through the arbitration process, we’re looking at ways our resources could potentially be deployed to assist impacted producers.”
After the Canadian labor minister’s order Thursday, The Fertilizer Institute issued a statement applauding the Canadian government’s efforts “to take action to get the rail system moving again as quickly as possible,” adding it looks to work with policymakers on strengthening supply chains and domestic fertilizer supply and production.
“Rail transport is the backbone of North America’s supply chain, and fertilizer and agriculture are among the most dependent on rail service,” said Corey Rosenbusch, president of industry group The Fertilizer Institute, in an earlier statement.
Midwestern farmers are more reliant than Southern farmers are on fertilizer supplies at this time of year, due to the soil and weather in the Midwest, according to Harris. In Georgia, it’s late in the growing season for cotton and corn.
But some fall crops still need to be fertilized, including fall vegetables like broccoli and cabbage. And, grass crops are also fertilized in the fall for hay used for beef cattle, he said.
“Once you put the seed in the ground, it’s susceptible to nutrient deficiencies,” Harris said, adding growers don’t necessarily have large stockpiles of fertilizers at this time of year. “I’m not sure they saw this one coming.”
- Staff writer Drew Kann contributed to this report.
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