What do a plane hijacking, the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, a hurricane in Louisiana and a deep freeze in Texas have in common? They all contributed to a crisis in the global supply of fertilizer!

In this episode of Associations Thrive, host Joanna Pineda interviews Corey Rosenbusch, President and CEO of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI). Corey discusses:

• The critical importance of fertilizer, without which the human population would drop by 50% because of mass famine.
• How COVID was a gift because it gave him time to get to know his members at the start of his tenure at TFI.
• The events of 2021 that led to a huge crisis in the fertilizer market (the black swan event).
• The issues that keep members up at night, including volatile fertilizer markets, supply chain issues, the ability to make massive capital investments, and sustainability.
• How TFI communicated directly with farmers, who are TFI members’ customers, to explain why fertilizer prices were increasing so much during the pandemic.
• The nuanced advocacy and lawmaker education that TFI engages in.
• How TFI has been merging with other associations and the issues surrounding organization mergers.
• How trust is so important in an organization. Staff and members need to trust TFI and its leadership, and TFI leaders need to trust their staff to do a good job.
• TFI’s hybrid staff policy which does not have any specific mandates re: days in the office.
• Global Fertilizer Day on October 13.

References:

• TFI website