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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.
- October 13 is Global Fertilizer Day.
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