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Missouri AG to investigate fertilizer producers for possible price fixing

Missouri’s Attorney General Catherine Hanaway met with farmers at the Missouri State Fair on Thursday, and she says the rising fertilizer costs were a concern.

“The Missouri attorney general has at their disposal a law that is very similar to the federal antitrust law, and so we are going to look at whether these companies are colluding with each other to price fix.”

Hanaway says any fertilizer company that sells products in Missouri could be subject to the investigation.

The U.S. DOJ is currently investigating major fertilizer producers for possible collusion and anticompetitive practices, and Hanaway tells Brownfield “Sometimes we can move a little quicker than they can.”

Hanaway says it will take months to investigate, and she plans to go “as far as the law allows.”

The Federal Trade Commission has also launched a formal investigation into possible anti-competitive behavior in the U.S. fertilizer industry.