The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday it has added anhydrous ammonia pipeline rates to its Fertilizer Transportation Dashboard, giving farmers and industry stakeholders better visibility into fertilizer shipping costs.
The new data tracks prices in dollars per ton across five origins - three in Louisiana, one in Arkansas and one in Iowa - and 25 destinations, primarily in the Corn Belt. Anhydrous ammonia serves as both a fertilizer and the building block for all nitrogen-based fertilizers, with pipelines moving most of the product across the United States.
The dashboard will feature charts showing pipeline rates from three major facilities: Donaldsonville, La., home to the world’s largest nitrogen-producing plant; Taft, La., a deepwater import facility; and Garner, Iowa, which receives ammonia by rail from Canada.
The dashboard already tracks fertilizer production, inventory, imports, prices by region, rail volumes and barge traffic on the Mississippi River System. The platform monitors nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium supplies, along with specific commodities including ammonia, urea, UAN, DAP, MAP and potash.
The Agricultural Marketing Service runs the dashboard as part of USDA’s effort to strengthen the nation’s food and agricultural systems.
