Fertilizer Usage
After World War II and until recently, the agricultural establishment has claimed that all different types of fertilizers were essentially identical and that a pound of phosphorus (P) was a pound of P for the growing crop no matter what the form may be (liquid, dry, or chemical). However, with the increasing problems that are occurring with varying water sources, this mentality is starting to change. The "expert" agronomists are starting to promote products to improve crop usage of fertilizer elements. This change of discussion is appearing quite significantly when the discussion turns to the loss of P in the fertilizer world.
These "expert" agronomists have quite conveniently turned the availability numbers for fertilizer, particularly P, upside down by suggesting that the farmers believed availability numbers for P were high. For example, a firm in Illinois suggested farmers believe the utilization of fertilizer P is in the 60% range, when that number is known to be extremely too high. Those experts are now suggesting that 20% utilization may be closer to what is used in an ideal environment. On average, some technical literature has alluded to a number closer to 12% usage of applied P.
Since 1955, Growers Chemical Corporation has told producers that the biggest enemies of fertilization are time and distance. Growers Chemical Corporation suggested that by using a balance of elements and purity of elements, the time and distance factors could be improved quite significantly (in some cases up to 90% usability according to Michigan State University). By improving the utilization percentage, the yield could be maintained with significantly less total volume of fertilizer applied. Less applied fertilizer helped with the economics, but some producers still felt total production led to a more profitable situation. This discussion contained many debate issues; however, the one issue that is now becoming a very important factor for agricultural is the loss of fertilizer.
Since 1955, Growers Chemical Corporation has explained that by applying a lower volume of elements, the weight of lost elements to the environment would drop considerably. Up until recently, many producers did not feel this was an issue that would effect their thinking process. Economics would always be the driver. Economics is still a very important driver of agricultural decisions. But economic decisions made with no consideration for environmental consequences has put agriculture in a difficult position. Growers Chemical Corporation feels that the Growers Program can give the farmer the best of both worlds: economics with environmental sustainability.
This is an excerpt from the Late Fall Growers Solution (2019) written by Jim Halbeisen, Director of Research.
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