By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The spotlight has been turned on new and improved fertilizers as researchers and scientists look for ways to increase global food production to help nourish a world that is expected to grow to nine billion people by the year 2050.

A recent meeting tackled the issue of how the fertilizer industry can help meet the challenges producers will face in feeding the world’s hungry – many of whom will hail from impoverished nations – in the coming decades.

“The need for new and innovative research is a global issue and thus requires a global solution,” said Dr. Jimmy Cheek, chairman of the board of advisors of the newly-formed Virtual Fertilizer Research Center (VFRC), which held its inaugural board meeting at the World Bank in Washington.

“The VFRC will focus on the development of a new suite of crop nutrients that will revolutionize agriculture in the developing world,” he added.

The VFRC board agreed the world cannot afford the current level of inefficiency in fertilizer production and use, considering up to half of the food consumed worldwide is grown with the aid of nitrogen fertilizers.

Only around one-third of the N (nitrogen) fertilizer applied to crops in developing countries is utilized due to inefficiencies in application methods and the inherent properties of current fertilizer products, according to the group. The unused fertilizer often becomes an environmental pollutant.

Over the past 25 years, the VFRC asserts, no “new” fertilizer product has proven efficient for food crops grown by farmers in impoverished lands. Fertilizer research and development can make a major contribution in addressing the challenges of increasing soil fertility and productivity of crops, and recent advances in nanotechnology and biotechnology present new opportunities for collaborative fertilizer research between public and private sectors, the VFRC announced.

“Going forward, global food security will depend on a focused effort to improve soil fertility and increase productivity of food crops, and fertilizer plays a major role,” the group stated in a post-conference news release. “The production and use of current fertilizer products must be improved.”

Kathy Mathers, a communications representative for The Fertilizer Institute, told Farm World the fertilizer industry is expending vast amounts of resources to develop new products with a goal of meeting future world food demands.

“One major technology area where the fertilizer industry is engaged is a substantial investment in the development of Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEFs),” she said. “These are fertilizer products that can reduce nutrient losses to the environment while increasing nutrient availability for the plant or crop (thus improving farmer profitability). These fertilizers can either slow the release of nutrients for uptake or alter the conversion of nutrients to other forms that may be susceptible to losses.”

The industry’s 4R nutrient stewardship program helps set the standards for the new generation of adaptable fertilizers, said Mathers.

“As a component of the 4R nutrient stewardship program – use of the right fertilizer at the right time, right rate and in the right place – EEF products improve potential crop yield by supplying nutrients precisely when they are needed and protecting against nutrient losses,” she said. “These products give farmers and growers optimal return on investment.”

EEFs include slow and controlled-release N, P (phosphorous) and K (potassium) fertilizers, Mathers explained, which provide benefits including yield and crop quality improvements, labor and fuel savings and environmental protection by better matching crop needs and growing conditions while minimizing environmental releases.

Other benefits include fewer passes over the field – helping retain soil moisture and reduce compaction – and reduction of plant stress.

Experts have long concurred that fertilizers will be a key ingredient in growing crops to feed an expanding world population. Jacques Diouf, director of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, concluded in December of 2007: “You cannot feed six billion people today and nine billion in 2050 without judicious use of chemical fertilizers.”

Diouf pointed out that increased use of fertilizers in sub-Saharan Africa could significantly boost food supplies in a region whose farmers use less than 1/10 of the fertilizer than their Asian counterparts.

“Much of African soil suffers from constraints such as acidity and lowered fertility and is greatly in need of soil amendments and nutrients,” Diouf said, adding that Malawi boosted its maize production after the government began providing small-scale farmers with seeds and fertilizers.

“However, chemical inputs must be used with care,” he concluded.