Why feed mills should worry about fertilizer decisions made months ago

Procurement teams should ask not only what the grain costs, but where it came from and what fertilizer conditions shaped it.

Efstratia Papanikou

May 11, 2026

Close-up view of golden wheat grains or cereal kernels scattered densely together

BitsAndSplits | BigStock.com

Feed mills usually discover grain quality when the truck arrives at the intake pit. But by then, much of the nutritional story has already been written. The crude protein, starch concentration, and feed value of grains are shaped months earlier, when growers decide how much fertilizer to apply, when to apply it and which fields deserve priority.

In May 2026, that connection has become more urgent. The war involving Iran has disrupted fertilizer trade. Nitrogen prices have surged, and even where physical supply is available, affordability has become a serious issue for growers. But, for feed manufacturers, this is not just a fertilizer-market problem. It is an ingredient-matrix problem.

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Feed Ingredient Insights

Feed phosphates should be priced by digestible phosphorus

The phosphorus contribution of a feed ingredient depends on its origin, its availability to the bird and what the rest of the diet allows the bird to use.

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Optimized phytase dosing: unlocking more value from feed phytate

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Feed Ingredient Insights

Choline chloride quality begins with the carrier

Choline chloride is nutritionally important in poultry feeds, but concentration, carrier quality, storage behavior and dosing accuracy determine how much reaches the bird.

Pile of golden-brown pellets on white background, resembling animal feed or fertilizer granules

Feed Ingredient Insights

When does an emulsifier pay in a broiler diet?

Emulsifiers may improve fat use in some broiler diets, but fat source, bird age and matrix strategy determine whether a biological response becomes a commercial return.

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Feed Ingredient Insights

Proper processing protects soybean meal value for poultry

Neither insufficient heating nor excessive heating is visible in the crude protein result, so feed purchasers need supplier records and more than one quality test.

Pile of granulated garlic powder or seasoning on white background

Feed Ingredient Insights

Residual oil and drying influence value of DDGS in poultry feeds

Modern DDGS remains a valuable source of energy, protein and phosphorus, but each source should be formulated according to its analyzed composition.

Corn kernels and oil with fresh corn cobs on white background

Feed Ingredient Insights

How to evaluate oxidation in poultry fat and feed oils

Peroxide value remains useful, but it measures only one stage of oxidation and can make a badly deteriorated fat appear better than it really is.

Assorted glass bottles containing cooking oils, vinegars, and spirits with various colored liquids and caps arranged on a reflective surface.

Feed Ingredient Insights

Bentonite and competing clays in animal feeds

They should not be treated as interchangeable clays with slightly different origin stories, but minerals that get lumped together far too easily.

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Feed Ingredient Insights

Bentonite’s many distinct functional properties

This feed ingredient may be used as a binder, as an anticaking agent, to help improve pellet quality or as part of a strategy to manage mycotoxin risk.

White powder pile with fine, granular texture on neutral background

Feed Ingredient Insights

How plant compounds support poultry health

Many of the same compounds that help plants cope with stress can also help birds manage the challenges of modern production.

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Feed Ingredient Insights

Secondary metabolites in poultry nutrition

The more we understand the plant biology behind these compounds, the better equipped we are to design diets that work with plant chemistry rather than against it.

White chickens in wire cages at a commercial poultry farm facility

Feed Ingredient Insights

Making a case for feed-optimized crop genetics

What if we intentionally bred crops with poultry nutrition in mind?

Agricultural field with tall corn stalks bordering green soybean crops under blue sky

Feed Ingredient Insights

Hidden variability in poultry feeds from saved hybrid seed

Saving grain seed from a previous harvest is sometimes viewed as a reasonable response to economic pressure, but this choice introduces variability that deserves careful consideration.

Golden yellow corn kernels tightly clustered together

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