Fertilizer helps grow the food that fills grocery store shelves, and concerns about competition in the fertilizer industry are now drawing attention from federal regulators. North Dakota farmer Adam Ladwig was part of a group asking questions about pricing, consolidation and transparency in one of agriculture&#x27;s most important industries.

Fertilizer Fight Reaches the FTC

Market to Market - The MtoM Podcast

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Market to Market - The MtoM Podcast

## Transcript

Antitrust, Collusion, Government Intervention. Sound familiar? Pick an industry in agriculture and we could be talking about any of them right now, but today it's fertilizer. Recently the head of the Federal Trade Commission went to Texas. About 100 farmers from across the country were in this location and had the ear of the head of the FTC who is interested in what's going on in the fertilizer industry.

Is it just there's not enough players? Is it there is high input costs for the fertilizer, therefore the price is higher? Or is it something more? We're going to talk to a farmer in North Dakota today who was at this session recently and had conversations and heard what was discussed. His name is Adam Ladwig and he is a farmer in the town of Gwinner, North Dakota. So if you go Aberdeen to Fargo, in the middle is where you find his farm.

We'll talk about how things are going there, what their crop update is. So if you want to know what the corn looks like in North Dakota. And by the way, is that the Corn Belt? We'll ask him that question. But then we'll spend the majority of the time talking about fertilizer and consolidation. That is the topic that is happening and farmers are facing, especially in his area and many other areas. So today, fertilizer is the topic, but there is something for everyone in this interview.

If you have any feedback for me, send it to me, Paul Yeager. By the way, that's me, host of this podcast. Send it to me at paul.yeager at iowapbs.org. New installments of this podcast come out each and every Tuesday. I love hearing from you. Subscribe for that Market Insider newsletter. It comes out every Monday. Now, let's get to our conversation and Adam, who is a member of the North Dakota Corn Growers Association.

Are you ready for NDSU to be moving to the big time? Are you tired of beating up on all these 1AA teams? I'm sorry, FCS and go FBS. Are you ready for this, Adam? I think so. I think we've been asking for it for a long time. Whether it actually is a positive thing or not, we'll find out here shortly. What is your connection to North Dakota State University? So I am an alumni there. I graduated with a degree in crop and weed science here in 2010.

So are you on the home farm right now or is this a different place? Yep, this is on the home farm here. Well, I'm actually kind of an implant onto the farm. I took over for my father-in-law. I still farm with my father-in-law, but I've been out here for 13 years now. So then where did you grow up? I grew up in Oakes. So I'm literally just southwest of here about 20 miles.

So then I would put the town of Gwinner between Fargo and Aberdeen, South Dakota. Is that about right? Yep, that's about perfect dead center in the middle there. So describe what it looks like right now here in early, early summer out the window. Yeah, right now it's, well, right now it's raining. We keep getting rain, I gu...

Fertilizer Fight Reaches the FTC

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Fertilizer Fight Reaches the FTC

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.