Pure nutrients

Increasing demand for food, scarcity of land

Global food needs are soaring. In the last 50 years, food production has tripled. At the same time, the world population has doubled. However, the available amount of farmland is shrinking. The agriculture industry needs to get the most out of its existing land to meet these needs while not taxing the environment.

Nitrogen needs

Growing plants need nitrogen to survive. Nitrogen encourages roots to grow and plants to photosynthesize and take up nutrients. Soil naturally contains very low nitrogen levels. Agriculture lowers these levels even more, as nitrogen is used during plant growth and then removed when plants are harvested.

With too little nitrogen, soil becomes less fertile, leading to lower crop yields and reduced crop quality. But with the opposite – applying too much – the nitrogen can get into ground water or the atmosphere, leading to pollution and climate warming.

Sources of nitrogen

Current nitrogen sources in fertilizers are ammonium nitrate (AN) and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN), urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN). There’s a difference between these different nitrogen sources, depending on the chemical composition. With nitrogen undergoing transformations in the soil, yields and losses will vary.

Nitrates as pure nutrients

As European farmers have realized for many years, nitrate-based products are the most efficient nitrogen source available. Nitrate-based fertilizers are pure nutrients offering the required precision, efficiency and reliability to meet the agronomic and environmental needs of modern agriculture. AN, CAN and nitrate-based NPK compounds have a significantly lower environmental impact than urea-based products (urea, UAN) through reduced carbon leaching, lower volatilization and a lower life- cycle carbon footprint.

Yara solutions

Matching nitrogen availability precisely to current plant needs and actual soil nutrient supply enables maximizing yield, minimizing environmental impact and optimizing profit. Balanced nutrition is another prerequisite of economic fertilizer use. Insufficient supply of phosphorus, potassium or sulphur can diminish nitrogen use efficiency. Frequent soil sampling provides data on actual nutrient supply from the soil as well as fertilizer needs. The Yara N-Tester™ is a tool to measure plant nitrogen needs on the spot and adjust fertilizer nitrogen applications correspondingly.

Precision farming tools can also enhance spreading accuracy. Even spreading assures optimum nutrient supply. The Yara N-Sensor™ offers farmers real-time control over fertilizer application and GPS-based accounting of nutrient supply. The plant’s nitrogen need is measured continuously during spreading. The Yara N-Sensor™, when being used for spreading homogeneous nitrate fertilizers, guarantees highest yield with lowest fertilization input.

 
Advantages of nitrates