Fertilisers farmers

Transportation and Distribution Cost. Although much ammonia serves as feedstock for other processes, the largest single use in the United States is as a direct appHcation fertiliser without further processing. This direct appHcation consumption is mosdy in the farm belt and ammonia produced in the Gulf Coast states is shipped to terminal faciUties and then distributed by retail outlets to the farmer. 

Similar findings on dairy farms in Canada were reported by Stonehouse, et al. (2001). The superior economic performance on organic dairy farms was attributed to lower costs of production for almost all material inputs, including dairy herd replacements and livestock feeds. The organic dairy farmers used more land for feed crop production for the dairy cows in order to be as self-sufficient as possible. The conventional dairy farmers imported crop seeds, synthetic chemical fertilisers and pesticides, feedstuffs and herd replacements, with more of their land being devoted to cash crops. 

The organic farmer needs all the farmyard manure that his animals produce it is a valuable commodity for maintaining the fertility of his land, it is free and he cannot use most of the faster acting artificial fertilisers. 

By housing cattle overwinter and composting the farmyard manure, the organic farmer has ready access to a balanced fertiliser that can be spread where most required. The grazing animal does not actually import fertility onto the farm but it does recycle nutrients where it grazes and provides a source of manure when housed. This is as true of sheep, pigs and poultry as of cattle. The only problem with outdoor pigs is that they tend to rip up pastures. 

Most dynamic factors that affect fruit quality are agronomic practices that can be changed by farmers over relatively short time spans. They are mainly related to fertility management and crop protection and other husbandry interventions and inputs such as pesticides, fertilisers, herbicides, thinning agents and so on. The permitted tools for these activities, however, differ greatly between conventional and organic fruit production. The consequences... 

Poultry manure has frequently been found to increase yields of pastures and crops and is a valued organic fertiliser used by horticulturalists and dairy farmers. However, when this has been applied at high rates (more than about 18t/ha), there are reports of damage to crops and pasture. 

Therefore in crop rotations with a low level of forage legumes and a high level of cereals, farmers have to improve crop competition through adequate choice of cultivars (Kopke 2000), optimised growing conditions and fertiliser banding. 

In many agricultural enterprises, organic farmers may use fewer inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides and sometimes more labour, such as for hand-weeding, than on conventional farms. This is not necessarily the case, as materials to manage nutrients and pests on organic farms such as mineral fertilisers, compost and pheromones can also be costly. 

The recommendations of Lynn (1937) and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in 2005 (GV2020 2005) have never been promoted in a successful way. The main reason for this is that the focus of extension was too oriented on the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and hybrid varieties. Green revolution techniques in Ghana did not result in increasing soil fertility levels and thus, yields. Besides that, chemical fertilisers can never be the solution since the prices of fertilisers and pesticides over the last 15 years have been on such a level that farmers cannot afford them. Farmers also observe the negative impact of chemical fertilisers on soil structure and soil life (Box 2). 

The training and visit method of extension that accompanied the green revolution is, as such, not a bad system of extension, partly because there is room to include social and cultural issues. But whenever this system uses only a technical approach, promoting green revolution farming without considering the ecological, social and cultural context of rural families, the developmental effect is very limited. Or even worse, it makes farmers dependent on the fertiliser... 

Farmers reported that yields following compost application increased up to 4000 kg ha of maize and more importantly, that crops are less prone to damage from dry spells because of higher soil organic matter content. Some farmers even experiment with the combination of compost and fertiliser. They achieve yields of up to 5000 kg ha One particular farmer planted trees around his 8 hectare farm and allowed 2.8 hectares to develop into forest. The leaves of the fence and the... 

Some of the ammonia produced by the Haber process is used to produce nitric acid. If ammonia is then reacted with the nitric acid, we have the basic reaction for the production of many artificial fertilisers. The use of artificial fertilisers is essential if farmers are to produce sufficient crops to feed the ever-increasing world population. Crops remove nutrients from the soil as they grow these include nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Artificial fertilisers are added to the soil to replace these nutrients and others, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfur, copper and iron. Examples of nitrogenous fertilisers (those which contain nitrogen) are shown in Table 11.7. 

Farmers often need to add substances containing these nitrates. Such substances include farmyard manure and artificial fertilisers. One of the most commonly used artificial fertilisers is ammonium nitrate, which as you saw earlier is made from ammonia gas and nitric acid, both nitrogen-containing compounds. 

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