Back in '79-'82 I worked at a W. R. Grace fertilizer plant in New Albany, IN [there's a Wal-Mart Supercenter today where the plant used to be]. I thought that, even with the Carter recession coming on, that farmers would still have to buy their fertilizer.
Wrong.
Even after the Farm Bureau fertilizer plant in Indianapolis burned, and we started bagging for FB, our business volume steadily decreased. Of course, a lot of small farmers lost their farms in the early '80's--enough so that Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp actually noticed--so I suppose that a lot of farmers still put out their crops, but with a lot less fertilizer than they'd previously used.
In '79, I worked as a "seasonal" employee from March until August, and then again from October until just before Christmas. Each year thereafter, the business sagged, and I worked fewer weeks. In 1982, I worked 6 weeks total at Grace...and yes, it WAS a union job, and I had seniority over newer workers.
But when fertilizer prices or other economic conditions drive farmers to extremes, my impression is that farmers just cut back on the amount of fertilizer they use...or they finally give up and sell out.
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