Former president of Costa Rica on de-risking fertilizer shocks: how $700 billion in subsidies can do more

In 2022, my final year in office, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent fertilizer prices surging several-fold, and farmers across Central America—and around the world—saw production costs spike almost overnight, raising fears of food shortages.

Today those fears have resurfaced. Conflict in the Middle East is rattling energy markets, pushing up the cost of natural gas—the backbone of nitrogen fertilizer production—and exposing once again just how vulnerable farmers and families are to shocks beyond their control. Fertilizer prices have skyrocketed by up to 40%, compromising livelihoods and food security.

This vulnerability is not accidental and it is not cheap either. Governments spend more than $700 billion a year subsidising agriculture, much of it bankrolling the very fertilizers and fossil fuel inputs that make farming so exposed to price shocks. Yet farmers see just  Read Entire Article