The $200 billion global fertilizer sector is still growing. The world needs more food, and farmers need fertilizer to provide it. As plants extract nutrients from the soil, what they take out must be replenished.
Environmental concerns and the cost of extracting traditional fertilizers mean that the current model is increasingly precarious. For over 100 years, agriculture has relied on the Haber-Bosch process to manufacture ammonia for NPK fertilizers. Can technology respond to our changing needs?
Traditionally, agriculture relied upon manure, composting and rotation to maintain soil fertility. More recently, no-till practices and the use of other trace minerals have been embraced, but it is not enough.
Now, innovators are entering the market with biologicals to help plants to create and capture the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium they need.
The $200 billion global fertilizer sector is still growing. The world needs more food, and farmers need fertilizer to provide it. As plants extract nutrients from the soil, what they take out must be replenished.
Environmental concerns and the cost of extracting traditional fertilizers mean that the current model is increasingly precarious. For over 100 years, agriculture has relied on the Haber-Bosch process to manufacture ammonia for NPK fertilizers. Can technology respond to our changing needs?
Traditionally, agriculture relied upon manure, composting and rotation to maintain soil fertility. More recently, no-till practices and the use of other trace minerals have been embraced, but it is not enough.
Now, innovators are entering the market with biologicals to help plants to create and capture the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium they need.
Read more here.