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View points from RLF: How micronutrients are becoming an essential part of farm fertiliser practice
Oct. 27, 2016
RLF Rural Liquid Fertilisers
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Australia
More and more these days we hear about Specialty Fertilisers. Not that long ago they belonged only within the realms of ‘specialty growers with specialty crops’. But no longer. Today they are being absorbed into the routines and fertiliser practices of large-scale broadacre farming enterprises growing essential cereal and pasture crops, as well as the fields and orchards producing fruits and vegetables. And this is an increasing world-wide trend with many countries across all growing regions becoming more educated and involved with crop nutrition as they manage the challenges of increased demand, low commodity prices and buffering the effects of climate and pests or disease.
Familiar Territory for RLF
This is a sector of the market that RLF is very familiar with – and in many ways it has pioneered the trace element sector of the liquid fertiliser market since 1991.For the past twenty five years RLF has dedicated its research and development efforts to engineering specialty liquid fertiliser products that drive greater yield outcomes and healthier, better quality crops. These products include seed primers, broad-spectrum foliar sprays, nutrient chargers for plant parts and root boosting fertilisers. The results of in-house and on-farm trials and evaluations further validate the important role they play in optimising beneficial outcomes for both crop and the farmer’s bottom-line.
Results are the Key
RLF has always understood that proving the worth of its highly-specialised products is fundamental to its business.When farmers experience first-hand, or can translate the trial data to their particular enterprises, the information being imparted holds greater efficacy and value. RLF’s Managing Director Ken Hancock says that “this has lead us down the path of greater education and ongoing information for our customers as we raise the profile and awareness of the benefits of a more balanced crop nutrition program. We can demonstrate very clearly that increased crop quality and yield benefits can be delivered through the use of our products”.
Continuing with the same fertiliser practices year after year often results in lower yield – and this reality is being experienced by more and more farmers today. So, finding solutions that will increase the yield and maximise spend on fertilisers therefore becomes an imperative for growers and farmers.
Specialty Fertilisers – the Modern-farming Future
Past practices have relied mostly on the application of NPK, meaning that the plant has had to find its own way to the micronutrients that it needs for healthy growth in the soil.
With sophisticated soil testing regimes now being used routinely by many farmers, it is becoming increasingly clear that soils are likely to be deficient in micronutrients such as zinc, boron, manganese and molybdenum. Specialty fertilisers within the RLF range of products bypass the soil and deliver the nutrient load directly to the plant through the leaf or directly into the seed.
RLF’s National Sales Manager Grant Borgward has recently spearheaded an educational campaign about the benefits of better, balanced crop nutrition and shared his own experiences as a farmer in a series of video presentations called Farmer to Farmer.
“Giving crops all the nutrients all the time has truly become my mantra when I talk with farmers” Grant said. “Understanding the uncertainties and difficulties created by paddock and soil variability is crucial, and by re-thinking how we allocate and spend our fertiliser budgets can make such a huge difference to final crop yield”. He went on to say “that there are many secondary benefits too which should not be undervalued, such as increased organic matter and the building of natural
soil fertility”.
Conclusion
It is apparent that momentum for the use of Specialty Fertilisers is building. Specialty Fertilisers bring major modern farming advances. With better understanding and education of plant physiology, coupled with the higher nutrient needs of some higher-yielding new crop varieties there is growing demand for information and options available for farmers. RLF has a suite of 80 specialised liquid fertilisers for a wide range of trace element needs, and this may well expand as solutions are engineered for particular crop types and soil deficiency needs.
Farmers and growers need to be better educated about micronutrients. A very important part of this learning curve is about maximising their budgets, their time and their routines because very real opportunities exist. RLF products are compatible with many commonly used crop protection products therefore applications can be streamlined. Although this segment of the agri-market is growing steadily, enormous potential still exists as micronutrients become an essential part of farm fertiliser practice.
Source: RLF
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