Washington D.C., 8 April 2026 (IICA) – The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) will work together to promote public policies and long-term capital investments that can contribute to guaranteeing the supply of fertilizers for agriculture across the continent. Within the current context of geopolitical and market shocks, this issue is of critical importance for production and food security in the Western Hemisphere.
The agreement to undertake joint work was reached during a meeting held in the U.S. capital between IICA Director General Muhammad Ibrahim and officials from TFI, which represents stakeholders from the entire U.S. supply chain and is a key industry institution for food security on the continent.
The two institutions will sign a memorandum of understanding to formalize their agreement.
Corey Rosenbusch, President and CEO of TFI, and Ed Thomas, Vice President of TFI, participated in the meeting, which allowed for identifying concrete opportunities for collaboration.
TFI and IICA will jointly develop reports on the status of the fertilizer supply in the hemisphere, to be presented to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other relevant public and private institutions.
IICA, in turn, will develop a communication strategy to raise awareness of the region’s vulnerabilities with respect to fertilizer availability and the need to stabilize supply through public policies and long-term investments.
One priority will be capitalizing on the continent’s potential to increase the production of nitrogen, an essential element to produce fertilizers such as urea. To that end, IICA will facilitate rapprochement between TFI and Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean country that is a leading producer of natural gas, a key input for the production of nitrogen fertilizers.
Ibrahim, who is on a work visit to the United States this week, was accompanied by Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General of IICA, as well as Margaret Ziegler and Mari Dunleavy, IICA Representatives in the United States and The Bahamas, respectively.
As part of his work mission in Washington, D.C., Ibrahim will work together with U.S., Latin American, and Caribbean government officials and representatives of international funding agencies to develop an agenda of projects aimed at strengthening agriculture in the region.
The IICA Director General will also hold working meetings with high-level officials of the U.S. Department of State and Department of Agriculture, with the aim of discussing joint projects currently underway in the region to prevent and combat transboundary diseases that threaten animal production.
Mari Dunleavy, IICA Representative in The Bahamas; Lloyd Day, Deputy Director General of IICA; Muhammad Ibrahim, Director General of IICA; Corey Rosenbusch, President and CEO of TFI; and Margaret Ziegler, IICA Representative in the United States.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
