Just When You Think Fertilizer Shortages are Improving, Trucker Vaccine Mandates Slam Supply Chain Into Disarray

Fertilizer availability concerns have plagued agriculture for months, but recent COVID-19 vaccine mandates in both the U.S. and Canada could take even more truckers off the road. As the supply chain is already wading through chaos and shortages of everything from food products to equipment parts, more fertilizer shortages could be coming just before spring. 

Trucking industry experts warn while empty store shelves are being advertised as a product of these recent vaccine mandates, the issue will snowball into much more. The concerns derive from a recent vaccine mandate requiring truckers to be vaccinated before crossing the border. Truckers were previously exempt from federal travel restrictions. The new mandate went into effect on January 15,, 2022 in Canada, and on January 22, 2022 in the U.S.

Sending off the truckers from the East Coast.
Let's Goooo!!!!! pic.twitter.com/Okz6jeEyR8 — Bret ? (@Bret_Sears) January 27, 2022

?? pic.twitter.com/hdIellXNNj — Andy Pasztor ?? (@apasztor82) January 27, 2022

The Canadian Trucking Alliance estimates the mandate may block up to 20% of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truckers from entering either Canada or the U.S. And in Canada, a convoy of truckers took to the road across Canada this week to protest the cross-border vaccine mandates. The protests started in Vancouver over the weekend and are expected to reach Ottawa by Saturday.

"I worked for two years to bring goods and services, and toilet paper and everything to everyone. We went through having no showers, no bathrooms, no food — we starved sometimes for days on end on the road — and nobody cared about us then, and now all of a sudden, they care," convoy trucker Bridgette Belton, who owns and operates her own rig running food products and containers between Canada and the United States, told CBC News.

Huge Support for You all ??????? pic.twitter.com/bRytCqk23o — Ed Heczko (@greensums) January 27, 2022

More Fertilizer Shortages? 

And in the U.S., effects of driver shortages are just starting. Kelly Krapu is safety director for True North Compliance Services in West Fargo, North Dakota, a company that helps trucking companies and drivers navigate rules and regulations on the road. She says we haven't seen the full extent of the impact considering the mandate for drivers coign to the U.S. only went into effect Saturday. "I have been told from some chatter in industry, and some of my customers is a lot of their fertilizer comes from Canada,” she says. “About 50% of Canada's fertilizer is exported into the United States. So, if an unvaccinated driver is not allowed to go into Canada to pull that fertilizer out, we're going to have some issues there. And then vice versa, even if the Canadian driver that's going to pull some fertilizer down into the U.S. isn't vaccinated, they're not going to be allowed in.”

Krapu says it’s not that truck traffic is shuttered. She says it’s just severely throttled back since there are so many cross-border truck drivers unvaccinated. But there’s no definitive answer on just how many are still unvaccinated despite the new mandate. She says some drivers who aren’t vaccinated are opting for different routes that don’t take them across the border. So, that leaves fewer drivers able to transport goods, including everything from food and fertilizer, across the border.

"That is one of their concerns is how they're going to get fertilizer back from Canada that they regularly have been getting easily from Canada for years,” says Krapu. “And now we're going to have to figure out a new situation. They have some drivers that can go but if you had 14 drivers that could go and now you only have four, you have to be creative on how you're going to get that done."

Fewer Truckers to Go Across the Border

 
Krapu says estimates point to as few as 25% of current U.S. truck drivers are vaccinated. Shaun Haney who hosts Canada’s Real Agriculture says the estimates in Canada show anywhere from 10% to 30% of drivers going across the border are unvaccinated.

“Think of an example from an agriculture perspective of getting California fruits and vegetables into Canada has all of a sudden become a lot more challenging than it was previously,” Haney told AgDay. “And if it does, we're also hearing those freight rates have gone up substantially. So a lot of concerns here and it kind of, in my mind, feels a little bit like a little bit of a self-inflicted wound.”

 Krapu says a group of senators and governors sent a letter to the Biden administration asking for an extension to the implementation of the vaccine mandate. That wasn’t fruitful, and she says there aren’t currently any religious or medical exemptions truckers can file.

Severe Shortage of Truck Drivers 

She says the issue is just adding another layer of difficulty into the supply chain, as trucker drivers were already in short supply.

“So currently with a truck driver shortage being as it is, we are seeing huge supply chain issues and have been for obviously, since the pandemic started. And that's two-fold,” says Krapu. “We're losing drivers to early retirement because of all of the regulations and mandates that are being imposed. So people have chosen early retirement, and then we're not backfilling those retirement positions. And then it's also we are losing people that industry because of vaccine mandates.”

Canadian grocers report some produce shelves are bare, and the cost of hauling everything from tomatoes to lettuce from the southern part of the U.S. has jumped 25%. It's estimated about $45-billion worth of goods crosses the border every month and most of the trade between the two countries uses trucks.