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The agricultural community and its supply chain is facing the biggest challenge of our times. As the global population exceeds 7.5 billion, and is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, an additional 2 billion mouths will need to be fed with no more than the existing farmland already cultivated. Meanwhile, much due to climate change, about 12 million hectares of land are becoming degraded each year, and the increasing frequency and intensity of droughts and floods, add the challenge of maintaining food security for the growing population.
The best sustainable solution to meet rising food demand, while conserving biodiversity and combating climatic trends, is to produce as much food as sustainably possible from the land we already farm, so that more natural habitats can be “spared the plow.” Many of the tools to achieve this are deployed by ICL, including precision agriculture, and integrated solutions for fertilization and irrigation, that are both radically efficient and highly specific to crops, soil and climatic conditions.
Smart agricultural sustainable solutions are marketed by ICL. For example, controlled-release fertilizers enable nutrient uptake by plants in accordance with soil conditions and the crop’s uptake. This mechanism provides an efficient fertilization regime, while preventing seepage of nitrogen to groundwater and runoff to lakes and rivers. When applied correctly, these fertilizers also emit fewer greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, assisting in the prevention of climate change.
To increase food security in an ever-changing world a multi-facet approach is needed. ICL has an integral part in the food supply chain. One of its main businesses is the production of fertilizers which enable farmers to grow crops. ICL offers a broad range of solutions for plant nutrition and stimulation, soil treatment, seed treatment and plant health. Its product portfolio includes enhanced efficiency fertilizers and controlled-release fertilizers, soil and foliar micronutrients, secondary nutrients, biostimulants, and adjuvants.
Biostimulants are substances or micro-organisms that promote plant growth and increase yield. They can increase resource use efficiency when applied to crops in a proper manner. Stresses caused by heat, drought or disease can remove certain nutrients from the soil, or limit the nutrient uptake from the roots to the plant. ICL biostimulants stimulate soil activity, resulting in better availability of nutritional elements for the plant, reduces stress and improve nutrients uptake.
Biostimulants can also reduce the need for fertilizers and increase the nutrient use efficiency. ICL’s offering of balanced fertilization now includes a wider spectrum of solutions that enhance each other. Together, biostimulatns and a balanced fertilization methodology, can increase plant growth and yield, increase the plant’s resistance to water stress and prevent diseases and decrease the impact on the environment.
ICL produces specialty fertilizers for fertigation (applying soluble fertilizers via the irrigation system). Fertigation is another method that allows precise nutrient application according to the demands of the crop. Fertilizer inputs through fertigation can be easily adapted to the soil, fertility status and the growth stages of any crop. This increases yield while reducing nutrient leaching and volatilization of nutrients to the air, including as greenhouse gases.
Polysulphate is a multi-nutrient fertilizer, solely produced by ICL, based on the polyhalite mineral mined in the UK. Polysulphate requires no processing and creates no waste products. The mineral is mined, crushed, screened and bagged with no chemical intervention or process. It therefore has a lower carbon footprint than alternative fertilizers, allowing food growth with a reduced climate impact.
ICL produces H2Flow, a wetting agent product which reduces the surface tension of irrigation water. This allows for better water distribution and penetration in the soil, and minimizes water waste and loss in agriculture (and other uses). As climate change is already causing water scarcity in many regions of the world, water preservation methods are vital to the future of mankind.
Growing demand for food is expected over the next few decades, propelled by a growing population and increase in wellbeing. Thus, maintaining fertile and productive agricultural land is imperative. In order to do so, we must keep our soil healthy, improve its microbial activity and increase its organic matter content.
Soil is a natural resource with unique biological, chemical and physical characteristics that must be continuously monitored and managed. However, the use of intensive agricultural practices depleted much of Earth’s arable soils. The result is a decrease in soil fertility.
Farming approaches that include no tillage, cover crops, and crop rotations, replenish organic matter content in the soil and improve microbial activity, contributing to the soil’s health. As a result, the soil also sequesters more carbon, increases water retention and improves wildlife and pollinator habitat. The expected results are stable cropping systems contributing to mitigating climate change by carbon sequestration to the soil.
ICL’s agronomic team is working to develop fertilization techniques and agricultural practices that will be aligned with the soil health agenda. This includes research on how to increase the soil organic carbon content and the biodiversity of soil biota. This is a significant change in the growing methods of many farmers, and our agronomists are prepared to support them during this journey.
What is soil health?
Soil health is defined by the USDA as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.
Soil performs five essential functions:
For more information see: USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service Soils - Soil Health
