Fertilizer Focus

Enhanced Efciency Fertilizers: Improving Nutrient Efciency And Environmental Stewardship

By David Finlayson, Vice-President, Science & Risk Management, Canadian Fertilizer Institute efciency and contribute to improved environmental stewardship; produce signicant savings in labour, time and energy; contribute to innovative farming systems; reduce the potential loss of nutrients to air and water; reduce ammonia volatilization losses with urease inhibitors; improve the mobilization and the uptake of phosphate; and reduce seedling damage from urea and urea containing fertilizers. Some enhanced efciency fertilizers have been around for more than half of a century. Thanks to recent technological advances, they are now cost-effective and viable for general agriculture crops such as corn, wheat and other grains. Farmers can choose from several options of enhanced efciency fertilizers, including slow and controlled-release fertilizers and stabilized nitrogen fertilizers. The use of enhanced efciency fertilizers provides the agriculture industry with another avenue to achieve the concept of an ideal fertilizer. Slow or controlled-release fertilizers and stabilizer fertilizers have the three characteristics cited by Shoji and Gandeza in their 1992 publication Controlled Release Fertilizers with Polyolen Resin Coating long considered essential to the ideal fertilizer: a single application throughout the season; high maximum percentage recovery in order to achieve a higher return to production input; and minimum detrimental effects on soil, water and atmospheric environments. All nutrient sources play a vital role in enhancing soil quality and the capability of farms to produce high quality, wholesome food. It is important to manage and balance the supply of nutrients to prevent both over and under-fertilization. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus cycle within ecosystems through a variety of processes and can become depleted or accumulate due to a variety of reasons. Enhanced efciency fertilizers minimize the potential for nutrient losses to the environment. Using fertilizer at the right rate, right time and right place continuously improves nutrient use efciency and works to minimize fertilizer impact on air, water, soil and natural habitat. About 11 per cent of the earths land is currently cultivated for farming. By maximizing crop yields on existing farmland, fertilizer helps protect wildlife habitat. Industry stewardship initiatives such as science-based Best Management Practices (BMPs) and agricultural research help ensure efcient, environmentally responsible use of fertilizer. The development of enhanced efciency fertilizers has added an important facet to the fertilizer industrys environmental stewardship program. With the use of these crop nutrient products, farmers can improve crop yields by reducing losses to the environment. Enhanced efciency fertilizers are designed to be applied less often per growing season, so their use can reduce the number of passes across the eld made by farmers.
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utrient management plans track all sources of nutrients used in cropping systems. Farmers now have more viable nutrient management plans than ever and are using them to help ensure efcient, environmentally responsible use of fertilizer, while achieving maximum economic yields. Over the past 40 years, the use of fertilizers, precision application methods and other agronomic technologies have enabled North American farmers to triple crop production while using less land. Working with researchers and the farm community, the fertilizer industry is continually developing practices that support economic sustainability and at the same time protect the environment. Enhanced efciency fertilizers are a part of that effort. They improve nutrient