The Next Generation Of Plant Nutrition

By: Laurie Bedord

Norman Borlaug once said, “Seeds are the engine of the Green Revolution, but fertilizers are the fuel.”

Meeting the food demands of a growing population requires using new technology and intensifying production and management practices. Fertilizer is essential to accomplishing this.

Plants need light, carbon dioxide, water, and essential nutrients, which can come from both organic and mineral fertilizers, in order to grow. Mineral fertilizers, explains Charlotte Hebebrand, contain more concentrated, consistent and readily available nutrients than organic fertilizers, thus, enabling farmers to grow more on less land.