The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that the vital role of fertilizer minerals in food production has propelled a niche corner of the mining industry to the centre of a global debate about the security of supplies. A Financial Times of London item inside the Post says that potash and phosphate rock surged in price after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. Several of the West's largest mining companies have already begun to expand into fertilizer production, anticipating that the world's increasing population will deliver continued growth in demand. BHP has begun construction at the $5.7-billion (U.S.) Jansen potash mine in Saskatchewan. Production is concentrated among just a few companies: Nutrien, Mosaic of the U.S., Belaruskali of Belarus and Russia's Uralkali. After Russia invaded Ukraine, buyers started to stockpile, but the rise was short-lived because farmers responded by using less potash on their crops. Today, potash prices are less than half of their highs during the early stages of the war, as more Russian and Belarusian supplies have been able to reach global markets than expected. The falling prices prompted Nutrien to halt its plans to expand production, it announced earlier this month.