How FertaFind uses public USDA fertilizer data

The public USDA references we rely on

USDA AMS Market News

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service publishes free market reports under a voluntary price-reporting program. Its regional production-cost reports summarize input prices — including synthetic and organic fertilizers — and are issued on a bi-weekly or monthly cycle. Prices are typically shown as a low/high range and a simple average for a reporting period. These reports are useful for understanding the general level and direction of fertilizer prices in a region.

USDA ERS Fertilizer Use and Price

The USDA Economic Research Service compiles a long-running dataset of fertilizer consumption by nutrient and product, together with farm prices and wholesale price indices, at the national and state level. It draws on sources such as the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials, The Fertilizer Institute, and USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. It is updated on an annual cycle, and some individual series end in earlier years, so it is best treated as historical context rather than a current quote.

How we use them

We use these references to explain and sanity-check the relationships behind a comparison — for example, that products with a lower analysis carry more freight per pound of nutrient, or how nitrogen sources line up on cost per pound of N. The numbers that drive your result are the grades and prices on the quotes you upload, not a published average.

What we do not do

• We do not publish a proprietary price index or present one as official.
• We do not claim a public average is the price available to you — your quote is.
• We do not invent figures. Illustrative examples in our guides are labeled as such.

Limitations

Public data is regional and time-lagged: AMS reports cover a reporting period and a region, and the ERS dataset is annual and partly historical. Neither is a live, farm-specific price. Fertilizer prices also move with season, energy costs, and logistics. Use these sources for context, and confirm your own decision with a firm delivered quote for your location. See our Terms for how recommendations and comparisons are intended to be used.