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Not Your Father’s Fertilizer: 4 Ways Fertilizer Has Changed in 40 Years

December 8, 2023

By MARGY ECKELKAMP August 4, 2023

It’s only been since 1988 that the International Plant Nutrition Institute has credited the 4R framework—application of the right nutrient source or product at the right rate, right time and in the right place—as having a close tie and application to agricultural sustainability. The 4Rs are millennials, and we are seeing a generation’s worth of change in today’s fertilizer products.

Of course, product development, environmental stewardship and crop yields have dynamically changed in 35 years. So what about fertilizer? Here’s an overview of some developments that have changed products to be not your father’s fertilizer.

Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers

Enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEF) span three categories: controlled-release products, ammonia volatilization inhibitors and nitrification inhibitors. In 2019, North American sales for EEF products was $590 million.

“Farmers’ interest has been how to get more from the fertilizer input and more into their yield,” says Karl Wyant, director of agronomy at Nutrien. “There have also been more state-by-state regulatory efforts as well as voluntary programs to reduce leaching and loss to the environment, making EEFs a popular choice.”

Nitrapyrin, which is used in nitrification inhibitors such as Instinct and N-Serve, may be the oldest technology in this group having been introduced 40 years ago.

Introduced in 2001, Agrotain was the first commercial ammonia volatilization product and was later acquired by Koch Agronomic Services (KAS). KAS has also introduced two effective chemistries in the past five years–Pronitridine in Centuro and Duromide in Anvol, says Tim Laatsch, KAS director of agronomy, North America. These innovations and technologies allow growers to protect their nitrogen with a solution that best fits their operational needs.

“What is most important about using EEFs is knowing the game you are playing,” Laatsch says. “You need to understand the potential for nitrogen loss in your system and select the right tools to manage that risk.”