Fertilizer

Fertilizer is one of the most important products of our life, allowing plants to grow faster, bigger and healthier. Without fertilizer hundreds of thousands more acres would need to be cleared in order to meet the current demands. Unfortunately fertilizer also has many detrimental effects on the flora and fauna outside of the farm.  Most industrial fertilizers are composed largely of inorganic compounds, but natural fertilizers from compost bins and manure. Both types of fertilizers are said to have their own disadvantages and advantages. A cheap efficient fertilizer was not always readily available to the average farmer either, until a cheap process was made to make it. Otherwise it had to be mined and shipped in as guano from faraway countries, until someone made a cheap way to manufacture a plausible fertilizer. As plants are studied more in depth, and the materials that a plant needs to grow to its fullest is more fully understood new fertilizers are developed to meet these needs. These more precise fertilizers allow plants to produce more fruit, or a higher crop yield, all through the rather complicated steps of plants life systems.

            Fertilizer is mainly composed of two types of nutrients, macronutrients and micronutrients, both of which are essential to sustain plant life. Macronutrients are minerals, or organic materials that are required in large proportion, such as nitrates and phosphates. Micronutrients are elements that are required in very small, amounts in a plant, which includes several metals, chlorine and boron. Many fertilizers only provide the macronutrients and the manufacturers depend on the soil of the crop field to provide the micronutrients. This in itself is not much different than what has been used for hundreds of centuries, except that the amounts of macronutrients have been tailored to just the right ratios. Some fertilizers also include micronutrients to supplement deficiencies in the soil which allows for a better crop yield than a normal macronutrient fertilizer. Less effective but much cheaper fertilizer can be made from compost bins, worm castings, and manure, providing a cheaper alternative. Organic fertilizer however can be over applied, and could cause the death of a crop. Inorganic fertilizer can be over applied as well, but is generally easier to use than compost fertilizers, and less time consuming to get.

            Unfortunately fertilizers do not only affect crops with their nitrogen rich chemicals. Since most fertilizers contain a large percentage of nitrates, or ammonium compounds. which are readely soluble in water, they can be washed out of a crop and into the ocean or other bodies of water. This, causing an abundance of easily usable nitrates, will cause a sudden increase in algae growth, which will in turn effect the whole aquatic ecosystem in that area. Some fertilizers have also been thought to have small traces of heavy metals present in the, from polonium to lead. There were concerns that the continued usage of these fertilizers would cause a buildup of the heavy metals in plant foods and grass feeding animals, and would endanger people. It is also known that many inorganic fertilizers do not provide the trace minerals such as zinc and copper in the soil and would cause a deficiency in store bought mass produced plant foods.

            I think that many of the concerns about overuse of plant fertilizers, and its effect on local ecosystems is viable, but the trace amounts of heavy metals in fertilizers does not seem like nearly so realistic of an issue. While I know that even a tiny amount of heavy metals is dangerous to the human body, only infinitesimally small amounts are actually present. It seems that, logically the metals would be spread throughout the crop and would be continually cycled as the crop was harvested. I cannot see how it would lead to a dangerous build op of any of these metals. There does however seem to be a legitimate concern in the buildup of the toxic elements in the soil since they will not be absorbed by any plants, and will be left to accumulate in the soil. These may, similarly to nitrates, be washed into the ocean and poison the delicate aquatic ecosystem.