The devastation of Hurricane Ian has implications far beyond Florida itself. One of the largest fertilizer companies in the world, Mosaic, is located right in the devastation path of Ian, which lingered for over 12 hours in Central Florida, dropping actual feet of rain in some areas, causing widespread flooding and infrastructure damage. That, combined with the sustained hurricane-force winds, ripped some communities to shreds and left almost no structure standing in certain areas.
The Mosaic company in Central Florida provides 50% of the granulated phosphate fertilizer used by North American farmers, according to its online data sheet (PDF). The company also provides 12% of the global supply for granulated phosphate fertilizer. This means Hurricane Ian just made the global fertilizer shortage far worse than what it was already, even after the fertilizer shortages caused by natural gas shutdowns in Europe (and the recent sabotage explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines).
The upshot of all this? Expect even more food scarcity and price inflation in 2023 and beyond, with high prices and crop scarcity to persist for many years to come.
We hope that Mosaic — which employs 3,000 full-time workers and 3,000 additional contractors — can get back on its feet as soon as possible and resume deliveries of phosphate fertilizer.