Optimizing farm inputs is a way to cut costs while controlling returns. One of the most important farming inputs is mineral fertilizer. It originates from various sources worldwide and can be of variable quality.
The mechanical quality of fertilizer is key for spreadability, precise application, low environmental impact, and high return on investment. In many cases, simply taking a handful of fertilizer gives a first idea: dust and crushed granules indicate low quality, while the homogeneous size and smooth surface stand for superior spreadability.
Mineral fertilizers also shall be pure nutrients, free of additives and pollution. And their environmental footprint, both at production and application, shall be as low as possible. Ensuring high quality goes along with continuous investments in people, technology, and organization.
Africa losing 24 billion tons of fertile topsoil undermining agricultural development, production
Nitrogen
In a modern plant, nitrogen fertilizer is produced from natural gas. In several transformation steps, natural gas, essentially methane, is upgraded by combination with nitrogen from the air to form nitrogen fertilizer. 80% of the gas is used as feedstock for fertilizer, while 20% is used for heating the process and producing electricity.
Based on the two main end products, ammonium nitrate and urea, different fertilizer types are manufactured by mixing with ingredients such as phosphorus and potassium to form NPKs, dolomite to form CAN, or by mixing urea and ammonium nitrate solution to make UAN.
Phosphorus
Phosphorus fertilizers are produced by acidulating phosphate rock. By itself, phosphate rock is not soluble and cannot provide phosphorus in an available form for plant use.
To produce a phosphorus fertilizer, the rock is treated with acid; sulfuric, phosphoric or nitric. The third manufacturing process is to use nitric acid to acidulate the rock phosphate. This process is a cleaner process with no waste products and produces two fertilizers:
Potassium
Most potassium used in fertilizer production is taken from natural deposits of potassium chloride. The mined material is crushed and purified by rock particles and salt removal. Deposits of potassium sulfate and potassium nitrate are more rare but, when used, are treated similarly. Deposits of potassium chloride are also reclaimed from the concentrated salts of places like the Dead Sea.
Small Outside Summary
The practical goal is to determine how much nutrient material to add. Since the farmer wants to know how much profit to expect if he buys extra fertilizer, the tests are interpreted as an estimation of increased crop production that will result from nutrient additions. Cost of nutrients must be balanced against value of crop or even against alternative procedures, such as investing the money in something else with a greater potential return. The law of diminishing returns is well exemplified in fertilizer technology. Past a certain point, equal inputs of chemicals produce less and less yield increase. The goal of the farmer is to use fertilizer in such a way that the most profitable rate is employed.
Fertilizers can aid in making profitable changes in farming. Operators can reduce costs per unit of production and increase the margin of return over total cost by increasing rates of application of fertilizer on principal cash and feed crops. They are then in a position to invest in soil conservation and other improvements that are needed when shifting acreage from surplus crops to other uses.
Farm manure
Among sources of organic matter and plant nutrients, farm manure has been of major importance in past years. Manure is understood to mean the refuse from stables and barnyards, including both excreta and straw or other bedding material, while the term fertilizer refers to chemicals. Large amounts of manure are produced by livestock; such manure has value in maintaining and improving soil because of the plant nutrients, humus, and organic substances contained in it.
As manure must be managed carefully in order to derive the most benefit from it, some farmers may be unwilling to expend the necessary time and effort. Manure must be carefully stored to minimize loss of nutrients, particularly nitrogen. It must be applied to the right kind of crop at the proper time. Also, additional fertilizer may be needed, such as phosphoric oxide, in order to gain full value of the nitrogen and potash that are contained in manure.
For the fertilizer to have the desired physical properties is important for the farmer to spread the product in an even and controlled manner. The most important properties are:
Free-flowing in nature.
Hard granules or prills.
Consistent in particle size.
Easily spread – ensuring even distribution patterns.
Packed with as many nutrients as possible in each particle.
Quickly dissolving when in contact with moist soil.
Free from undesirable contaminants.
