The Feed

This week, The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) released the 2016 Commercial Fertilizer Report. The 2016 edition, a joint project of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO), highlights that U.S. fertilizer nutrient consumption increased 0.6 percent to 22.13 million short tons during the fertilizer year ending June 30, 2016.

Each year, The Fertilizer Institute recognizes 4R Advocates, 5 pairs of retailers and farmers who are making 4R Nutrient Stewardship a priority in their operations. These partners get it, 4R Farming makes sense economically and environmentally. And that's why TFI is highlighting their work.

For more than 100 years, the fertilizer industry – and agriculture at large – has benefited off the work of science and technology. Starting in 1918, with the Haber Bosch process, which made the production of ammonia fertilizer economically feasible. Since then, the industry has kept refining not just how fertilizers are made, but how they are used by plants.

Sometime in my youth, I learned about the wordplay that illustrates the danger of making assumptions. For the uninitiated, lets just say that the end-result turns the “assumer,” into the first three letters of the word. So, I try not to make assumptions – at least, not about important stuff. Things like cars stopping for pedestrians in crosswalks, strange dogs not biting – you get the picture.