Why is fertilizer important for feeding the world?
Just as humans need essential minerals and nutrients for strong, healthy growth, so do the world's crops. Our core business of fertilizer production is intimately connected with agricultural productivity and food production. The role of fertilizers in food production is usually underestimated. Fertilizers are food for plants.
Fertilizers replace the nutrients that crops remove from the soil. Without the addition of fertilizers, crop yields and agricultural productivity would be significantly reduced. That’s why mineral fertilizers are used to supplement the soil’s nutrient stocks with minerals that can be quickly absorbed and used by crops.
Thus, in order to meet human nutritional needs in the crops and meat we eat, we need to replace what we take out. The key is to get this balance right and to maintain a level of nutrients in soils that will support our crops without applying excess.
Each crop draws down from these reserves and we need to replace them with fertilizers, every year and after every crop.
Put simply – we use fertilizer to:
- Provide nutrients not available in the soil.
- Replace nutrients removed at harvest.
- Balance nutrients for better producequality and higher yield.
