Springfield, Ill.-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s freezing of $40 million in funds for agriculture programs because of a state revenue shortfall directly threatens fertilizer research paid for by fees imposed entirely on the industry. “The Blagojevich administration has frozen all programs under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, including Fertilizer Research & Education Council (FREC), because state revenue is not able to meet the state’s spending obligations,” reported Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association President Jean Payne. “However, unlike soil and water conservation and extension (which are also impacted), FREC is 100 percent funded by the fertilizer industry. Unless the monies are released soon, there will be essentially no nutrient research conducted in Illinois during the 2008 growing season.” Payne testified on April 16 before the joint House and Senate agriculture and appropriations committees that FREC is funded by a 25 cent per ton inspection fee on agricultural fertilizer, with half going to the state fertilizer inspection program and the other half to FREC. She reported that some $500,000 was deposited into the FREC fund for the last inspection fee assessment period, and the council approved research projects equaling $500,000 for the 2008 year. She warned that loss of revenue will put on hold on-farm trials that are directly related to the University of Illinois’s efforts to fine-tune the Illinois nitrogen rate recommendations, residue management and nitrogen response in continuous corn, and an economic impact study on the importance of the fall application season for nitrogen. For the time being, she reported, a fertilizer inspection fee will be collected again this spring and more funds deposited into the FREC program. “But we have no idea when they will be released, or worse, swept by the administration into other non-agriculture programs. FREC is a 100 percent industry funded program independent of the need for state general revenue, and therefore there is no valid way the administration can justify holding the funds to expend for other purposes,” Payne asserted.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain