Ernst, Slotkin urge Burgum to list phosphate as critical mineral 

In a letter this week, Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich. who are both members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, have led 60 of their colleagues to urge Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to add phosphate, a major fertilizer ingredient, to the U.S. Critical Minerals List. 

“Phosphate, like potash, is indispensable to global food production and U.S. agriculture. It has no substitutes in farming, and disruptions in supply have immediate and far-reaching consequences for American producers, food prices, and national security,” wrote the lawmakers.

“Farmers across the country are already experiencing the impacts of market volatility and supply pressures tied to phosphate availability.”

U.S. Reps. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif. and Kat Cammack, R-Fla., are leading this effort in the House, Ernst and Slotkin noted.