Food Security and the Need for Fertilizer Efficiency

By: Jeff Ivan President & CEO of Soilgenic Technologies, LLC

Globally we are in a period of Food Insecurity

For over the past 15 years I've traveled to 75 countries promoting food security and assisting countries in developing parts of the world to increase balanced fertilization to help them increase their food security. Now we are looking at a time where due to trade issues, the disruption caused by the pandemic and now the Putin Russian war with Ukraine, we are facing a potential global food shortage. Or can this be diverted?

The Russian and Ukraine war has pushed wheat prices to levels not seen since the 2008 record levels. Other commodities such as oilseeds and corn are also closely following

In 2020 the region is responsible for a large majority of world's commodities. 47% Sunflowers - 14% Barley - 13% Corn - 8% Wheat. Countries in North Africa, the middle east and Indonesia are also major importers of grains from the region. The disruption of grain shipments will upset the world supply of commodities putting pressure on the food security and will elevate prices globally. However high prices will prompt farmers to react and grow and increase production. But there are challenges. Supply channels still disrupted from the pandemic will affect agricultural inputs around the world. This also includes fertilizer disruption due to complex and interconnected supply chains.

Fertilizer supply concerns and the global shortage

Russia has recently suspended fertilizer exports to ensure fertilizers were sufficient for domestic food production and stable food prices. So what does this mean?

• Russia is the 2nd largest producer of ammonia (23%), potash (21%), and Urea (14%)
• 5th largest - complex phosphate products (10%)
• Russia is also the largest exporter of urea, NPKs, ammonia, UAN and ammonium nitrate, and the third-largest potash exporter overall.

With the loss of a significant amount of fertilizer production on the world market, fertilizer producers globally are working to make up the shortfall, but will we have enough supply?

Fertilizer's Feed The World...But

Synthetic fertilizers have fed a growing world. The world population prior to the Haber Bosch Ammonia process solved the major problem for supplying nitrogen for growing larger crops to increase agricultural production. This allowed our population to grow to over 8 Billion today.

However, unprotected nitrogen fertilizers are lost to the environment contributing GHG emissions and environmental loss such as volatilization, leaching and denitrification. The United Nations and the governments of the world are collaborating to reduce environmental impact from synthetic fertilizer use in agriculture.

The 2019 UN's Colombo Declaration calls for the tackling of the global nitrogen waste loss by reducing nitrogen waste by 2030. In addition, the Canadian government's climate plan calls for a 30% reduction of emission below 2020 levels from synthetic fertilizers, and calls for improved synthetic fertilizers through better products and practices.

The fertilizer industry has been proactive in promoting the 4R's of fertilizer use to improve fertilizer use efficiency and to reduce losses to the environment. At Soilgenic we look at the biggest issue surrounding fertilizers today. They are unprotected and can be subject to significant loss or inefficiencies when applied. A USGS study states that up to 40% of Nitrogen ends up in our rivers. Phosphate studies have shown that up to 90% of phosphate is unused in the year of application. Of course the efficiency rates vary depending on soil and environmental conditions, and how the fertilizer is applied, but globally nutrient loss is a major issue. The occurrence of aquatic dead zones from Nitrogen and phosphate loss is also on the rise as fertilizer rates increase.

Fertilizer Use Efficiency and Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEF)

For 20 years above ground nitrogen loss has been managed effectively by N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT). The ability of NBPT to control volatilization loss is effective up to 96% and has been a very effective tool for farmers to reduce nutrient loss. Below ground loss of nitrogen from leaching of nitrate nitrogen or denitrification can be substantial, and up to 70% of loss can occur below ground. Dicyandiamide (DCD)?is an EPA approved below ground technology that is used for the below ground loss. 3,4-Dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP)?is used as well globally and is also covered under our suite of Soilgenic EEF Technology patents with our advanced formulations.

How effective are Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers in reducing Nitrogen loss?

Research conducted in Brazil with Urea applied to the surface at 241lbs/acre showed a considerable benefit of all treatments over the unprotected Urea Nitrogen, however

the below ground loss clearly shows that the majority of loss was occurring below ground. The total protection for above and below ground losses provided the best results increasing the corn yields by 43 BU/acre.

With the high price and the scarcity of fertilizers around the world, protecting fertilizers from environmental losses should be part of the management strategy and also implemented at the Urea Manufacturing level. Ultimately the best efficiency and quality is achieved at the point of manufacturing. The addition of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizer (EEF) Technology is a solution that is also most economical.

Soilgenic has developed a suite of over 50 global patents that will allow for the efficient adoption of EEF technologies for use upstream manufacturing and downstream retail distribution requirements.

Innovative technologies will allow us to reduce the cost of EEF technologies on Nitrogen based fertilizers while improving the overall protection above and below ground for a complete protected Nitrogen

The research group has developed the NitroBlock Enhanced DCD technology that vastly improves the below ground protection with just DCD and provides a combination of fast acting DCD and an enhanced DCD to provide a superior below ground product. Our formulations for Urea, Anhydrous ammonia (non corrosive) and other ammonia based fertilizers such as MAP / DAP, and Ammonium Sulfate will also be enhanced with the NitroBlock formulation keeping more nitrogen available to the plant.

Phosphate efficiency is also improved with our Phosgain Technology. Our patented technology has shown yield increases of 17% on average over three years of testing with a 7-10X ROI for the farmer. By creating a protective shield to protect phosphate fertilizers we improve the availability of the phosphate that the plant has access to over the growing season. The Phosgain technology also works in all soil pH zones and can be applied at upstream fertilizer manufacturing and at retail distribution and is not water based so fertilizer degradation is not effected.

Less Loss = More Fertilizer

So how does Food Security and Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers come together? Simply put fertilizer loss to the environment is fertilizer that may as well not have been manufactured and purchased. It's like heating or cooling your home with the windows open. Loss is inefficient and costly. $1200 / Ton Fertilizer @ 40% loss is a $480 / ton loss for the farmer.

The cheapest fertilizer that you can buy is the 40% you are losing by protecting your fertilizer loss from occurring.

With tight fertilizer supplies globally, every ton of fertilizer will help to increase food production and maximize our efficiency of our nutrients, not to mention the benefit of reducing our GHG emissions from Nitrous oxide and environmental impact to our water ways.

Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers just make sense.