With the large and growing population, food sources are increasingly more important. In order to increase the crop yield, fertilizers are used. These fertilizers can come in two forms, inorganic and organic. Also, though these fertilizers may help the human race increase food supply, fertilizer, in excess, can damage the natural environment, killing other organisms. Fertilizer is comprised of three major macronutrients and whether it is organic or inorganic, it can have negative effects on the environment. Fertilizers play a major role in increasing the yield of a crop. Both organic and inorganic fertilizers supplement a plant’s nutrient source with macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as well as some micronutrients such as boron, copper, and chloride. These nutrients are all directly affected by the pH of the soil. Certain nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus can only be absorbed by a plant in a higher pH level. Nutrients such as boron and copper can only be absorbed in a lower pH level. A balanced soil will provide the optimum benefits of each nutrient (“Plant Nutrients”, n.d.). Inorganic fertilizers, or chemical fertilizers, are all the fertilizers that have been synthesized in a factory to create a completely balanced nutrient source (Blessington, n.d.). In chemical fertilizers, nutrients are available to the plant upon fertilization. In the laboratory where the fertilizer is made, nutrients have already undergone any chemical changes needed so that the plant can absorb it. Nutrients are measured exactly in inorganic fertilizers. Excess nutrients can cause health problems with the plants, and too small of an amount would be ineffective. Unfortunately, chemical fertilizers are also easily washed away by rain water, or, if too close to the plant, could cause the plant “to burn” due to high concentrations. To “burn” a plant is “a
Nitrogen can be considered as both a fertilizer and nutrient under the right constraints. I will use citrus plants as one of my examples. For citrus growers applying nitrogen to plants is a common and needed practice. “Spring is the best time to apply nitrogen to citrus. Research has shown that the demand for nitrogen in citrus is highest from bloom through June and most of the supplemental nitrogen fertilizer should be applied during this time period.” It is a major key to plant growth and development. Nitrogen is crucial to citrus plants for optimal growth and yield. Without nitrogen you can see suffering results for many years down the road.
Lyman (1998) explained that organic farmers in the past had to pay attention to details. Such details are: what plant they were growing so that the soil would get the nitrogen naturally, leaving the field fallow once every few years so that moisture can be restored to the soil, ways to raise the animal so that they do not overgraze the land, and work with nature and not against it (p. 85). The work of traditional organic farming is very labor intensive and the product is not always profitable. Lyman explained that the uses of chemicals made farming easier because he can buy fertilizer in bulk and put it into the soil. The fertilizer helps increase grass growth, which also increases the size of the cows, providing the farmer with greater profit.
The usual target of beneficiation process is 35% P2O5 from 28%. The use phosphate rock as fertilizer is limited, since the solubility of it in acidic soil is a deciding factor. The rock needs to undergo a mineralogical test to ascertain the suitability depending on its chemical composition and structure. The carbonate radical contributes to P2O5 reactivity when it is directly applied on the rock.
For years farmers have been adding natural fertilizers to their crops. It is a big risk though. Over fertilizing is very dangerous. It puts high concentrations of salt into the soil. It can also affect the water resources nearby. Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium are the basics of fertilizer. If a certain nutrient is short in supply the fertilizer might not work as well. Calcium, iron, manganese are also nutrients that might be needed. So don’t just trust the fertilizer bag that says it has all the nutrients, test it out. (Miller and Levine 717)
Pollutants are contaminants that enter and affect the natural environment which can cause negative changes. There are two main types of pollution, air and water, which occur from different sources and have different effects. Air pollution is the main cause of “dirty air” in the United States. Suburban areas suffer from outdoor air pollutants as well as indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollutants are caused by the burning of coal and wood, which are used for heating. Outdoor air pollutants are caused by chimneys, in which smoke is released into the air, and crop fertilizers, which are generally used in rural areas. The impact air pollution has on humans are large cases of health defects in rural areas: such as cancer, tuberculosis, heart diseases, and low birth weights. J.P Majra, author of “Air Quality In Rural Areas” states that, “This leads various health problems, mainly affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular system...” (Majra, 2). This shows that if the United States alone uses this much fertilizer, in which affects our health, imagine how much the world will be affected. Kirk Smith, professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health states that ”nearly 10% of all lost-life years worldwide” has been due to air pollution (COEH
...at over planting can do to the land, the majority of the United States just moved on and continued to treat the land just as poorly as before. John Pursell views chemical fertilizer as a thing that turns soil into “chemical wasteland” and mentions that today’s soil is often not good enough to resist heavy rainfalls.
As the global population continues to rise, the amount of food needed to feed the people will increase as well. Two types of agriculture systems have been the backbone for crop production for decades if not centuries: conventional and organic agriculture— both methods could not be any more different. Conventional agriculture, a method that uses synthetic chemical pesticides, technologies or additives, and practices that are unsustainable is the leading producer for our food. On the other side of spectrum, organic agriculture generally, performed in a much smaller scale, does not use synthetic chemicals and utilize methods that are environmentally sound. Most conventional
The chemical fertilizers and pesticides have effects on the soil organisms that are similar to human overuse of antibiotics. According to the soil scientist Dr. Elaine Ingham, she said that “If we lose both bacteria and fungi, then the soil degrades”. It meaning that some plants depends on a variety of soil microorganism to transform atmospheric nitrogen into nitrates, which plants can use. For example Toxic effects of high concentration of ammonia fertilizer on soil organism applied have been the potential damage to soil organism generally one issue to grower because some bacteria living inside the soil surface provides potential benefit for cropping. If chemical fertilizer unprofessional conduct used, it will affect to earthworm as a beneficial soil organism resulting in the loss an important actor playing the vital role as decomposer of land and cause loss of the land nutrient or organic matters effect for the soil loss of fertility.
Fertilizers are essential to modern industrial agriculture. Two of the most important plant nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitric acid, phosphoric acid, ...
Farmers apply nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, manure, and potassium in the form of fertilizers to produce a better product for the consumers. When these sources exceed the plants needs or if these nutrients are applied before a heavy rain then the opportunity for these excess to wash into aquatic ecosystems exists.
The global population in the year 2050 is expected to be nine billion and the agricultural demand is expected to double. With the current population already over seven billion people, there are hunger issues all around the world (“New” par. 1). How are we going to deal with food shortages in the future? With less land to work with, strains on the soils, and the lack of water, it is getting harder for the farmers of the world to support our growing population. These complications are making it harder for farmers to produce quality, affordable food. To help the crops grow better, farmers use fertilizers and chemical sprays to enhance growth and control the weeds. Farming in the United States is a relevant business because it supplies people with food, provides people with jobs maintaining the used equipment with the new equipment being much more expensive, and it provides research for more efficient ways on how to feed the world.
Chemical farming has become such a cultural norm that humans have turned a blind eye to what is really happening behind the scenes and have come to accept what the big manufacturing companies have told us. What these companies don’t want us to know is that when you produce food on a conventional farm you are producing food that is harmful to the environment. Conventional farms use fossil fuel derivative fertilizers to help add nutrients to the soil, but “these are the reason the earth is experiencing dangerous climate changes” (Sustainable Table). Also, the quality and consistency in the crops are lowered when they are planted on a chemical farm because many companies use artificial manure that leads to “artificial nutrition, artificial food, artificial animals and finally artificial
Fertilizers are substances added to the soil sprayed on leaves of plants to help them grow better or in some cases faster. Plants need twenty essentail elements to help them grow. Plants make carbohydrates. A plant needs nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sulfur, and magnesium the most to grow healthy. Most soils naturally contain enough trace elements for field crops, but such elements must be added when certain fruits and vegetable plants are grown. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are the top three elements needed in plant growth. Legumes are plants which absorb nitrogen gas from the air and bring the gas to the ground. Legumes are planted over with other crops and those plants get the required amount of nitrogen and grow healthy.
Once a farmer ensures that the crops will grow abundantly they depend on the use of chemistry to produce chemicals or fertilizer that will ensure that the crops are well grown. . Fertilizers play a major role in agriculture because of the way they help produce very large yields of crops with the smallest amounts of chemicals. Fertilizers help the growth of crops so you end up with a bigger production. Chemical fertilizers like ammonium sulphate, urea, calcium, and nitrate are used for the better production of crops so that they can grow healthier Chemists have to ensure that these fertilizers they produce will not only be effective in the growth of the plant but they also have to be nontoxic due to the fact that the plant ususally fruits or vegetables will be consumed by people.
Nutrient availability from organic sources is due to microbial action and improved physical condition of soil (Sarker et al., 2004). The use of organic fertilizer to the soil helps to enhance its nutrient status and reduce incidence of pest (Adilakshi et al.,2007). Research done by Sridhar and Adeoye (2003) stated that organic based fertilizers are less leached into ground water than the inorganic