Long before Vladimir Putin’s first tank rolled into Ukraine, Kevin Marriott bought fertilizer for his Lambton County farm.

The grain farmer bought 40 metric tonnes of a fertilizer containing Nitrogen and Phosphoric Acid for a total of $41,400 in November and paid the bill in December.

Then, he got bill number two dated May 26. Although he had bought and paid for the fertilizer long before Russia invaded Ukraine prompting the federal government to put a tariff on fertilizer coming from Russia, Marriott now owed the federal government $6,967.99 in tariff fees.

Marriott says the federal government imposed the fee “because it hadn’t hit the dock yet. Apparently, what they’re going by is when it arrives.”

That $7,000 bill for the Russian tariff is only half of his fertilizer bill. Factor in that the cost of fertilizer tripled this year and that diesel fuel has skyrocketed;

“All of a sudden the good (grain) prices are not going to mean anything. We might be behind the eight ball with all the added costs all of a sudden.”

Marriott is not alone in paying the fee even though the war had not begun when the purchase was bought and paid for.

John Barlow, the federal Conservative’s Shadow Agriculture Minister, says farmers, particularly in Eastern Canada, are facing the same problem as Marriott.

The Ontario Grain Farmers’ estimates $150 million in tariff fees have been paid on Russian fertilizer.

“That’s a big number. That’s a huge number. That’s $150 million taken right from the pockets of farmers and it goes into the government tariffs or government coffers,” says Barlow. “Putin is not paying this tariff, Canadian farmers are paying this tariff, and it has no impact on Russia.”

That’s what bothers Marriott. “What they’re trying to say it does is teach those Russians – but this money all goes into the our government’s coffers.”
Barlow says the tariff has been the subject of a lot of committee hearings and lobbying. “We’ve been asking for an exemption to any fertilizer purchase before March 2 from that tariff on specifically Russian fertilizer before the invasion. Thus far there’s been a) in the Liberals have refused an exemption and b) refused any kind of compensation.

“You’re asking Canadian farmers to pay the price for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Barlow added many farmers feel “morally obligated” to produce as much as they can to help ease the food crisis coming because Ukraine isn’t planting this year. With high fertilizer prices, Barlow says many are using less and will get a lower yield as a result.

The office of the Minister of Agriculture did not answer our questions about the issue by press time. Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu was unavailable to comment on the issue.