Is Fertilizer Use Sustainable?
NORCROSS, Ga. Record
high natural gas prices...ammo
nia plant shutdowns...supply
and price uncertainty for nitro
gen fertilizers...OPEC raises
prices for crude oil. Items like
these in the news remind us of
our dependence on non
renewable resources. Farmers
have cause to ponder: Can we
sustain our crop production if
we continue this dependence?
Producing and delivering fer
tilizers uses fossil fuel energy.
Natural gas comprises 80 to 90
percent of the cost of producing
ammonia. Phosphate produc
tion doesn’t use as much energy
directly, but it depends on the
petroleum industry for its
supply of sulfur. It takes a ton of
sulfur to produce a ton of P 2 0 2 5.
Potash mining uses little in the
way of fossil fuel, but it requires
energy to transport and apply
any kind of fertilizer.
The raw materials for fertiliz
ers are also non-renewable re
sources. While the supply of
atmospheric nitrogen is virtually
unlimited about 37 thousand
tons above every acre on the
earth it takes natural gas to
make plant-available fertilizer
from it. The estimated world
reserves of phosphate rock
amount to at least three billion
tons of P 2 O s — roughly 80 years’
supply at current rates of use.
Known reserves of potash
exceed 10 billion tons of Kj O
at least 400 years’ supply.
But will North American
reserves of phosphate rock run
out within the next 25 years?
Probably not. For both phos
phate and potash, large re
sources that are uneconomical
to mine with today’s technology
and prices could potentially
supply us into the future for 10
times as long as the known
reserves. As recently as 1980 a
publication forecast that Florida
SEE YOUR LOCAL
lAI WHITE
I ABCOI
DEALER
LEBANON VALLEY
IMPLEMENT CO., INC.
700 E Linden St
Richland PA
717-866-7518
MILLER
EQUIPMENT CO.
RD 1
Bechtelsville, PA
610-845-2911
SIBERT EQUIPMENT
1175 Bnckcrafters Road
New Oxford, PA
717-624-8763
STANLEYS
FARM SERVICE
RD 1 - Off Rte 125
Klingerstown, PA
570-648-2088
WITMER’S INC.
Box 368
Columbiana, OH 44408
330-427-2147
HERNLEY’ S FARM
EQUIPMENT, INC.
2095 S. Market St
Elizabethtown, PA
717-367-8867
J & M MACHINERY CO.
Route 22 & 819
Greensburg, PA
412-668-2276
could run out of high-grade
phosphate rock by the year 2000
yet Florida today continues
to supply most of North Ameri
ca’s demand. As with fossil
fuels, new reserves continue to
be discovered as fast as old ones
are consumed.
Sustainability of fertilizer use
also depends on its benefits to
soil quality and health. Sustain
able use recognizes that fertiliz
ers boost the crop’s contribution
of organic matter to the soil as
well as its yield. Sustainable use
aims to apply amounts in keep
ing with the needs of the crop
ping system, supplementing
nutrients supplied by manures,
crop residues, and other organic
inputs. Sustainable use includes
management that minimizes
loss of nutrients to sensitive
waters and the air, through
knowledge of nutrient cycling.
The future will include more
efficient capture of nutrients
CNH Reports First Quarter Results
RACINE, Wis. CNH
Global N.V. (NYSE.CNH) re
ported first quarter consolidated
net revenues of $2,454 billion
compared to revenues of $2,608
billion last year. When adjusted
for the impact of divestitures
and foreign exchange rates, net
revenues were essentially un
changed year-over-year. The
company’s industrial operating
margin rose to $9l million, com
pared to $3l million for the
same period in 2000.
On a net basis, CNH reported
a loss, before restructuring, of
$67 million, or $.24 per share
compared to $54 million, or $.36
per share for the first quarter
last year. When adjusted for the
impact of the equity devaluation
in Turkey of approximately $.05
per share, the company’s EPS
was slightly better than expecta
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from animal manures, crop resi
dues, and other organic materi
als. Agriculture will redesign
itself to increase this efficiency,
but some nutrients will continue
to be lost to the larger cycles of
nature. Nutrient demands will
increase as yields continue to
climb. Supplementing with ferti
lizers is a responsible use of nat
ural resources from off the farm.
Energy costs of transport and
application are minimized when
more concentrated nutrient
sources are used.
No physical process is sus
tainable indefinitely. The key to
sustainability is to use resources
wisely to meet human needs for
today and for future genera
tions. Using mineral fertilizers
to build soil health and to in
crease its capacity to produce
food is a more sustainable in
vestment than many others that
are being made today.
tions. (Per share results for the
1999 period are based upon a
lower number of shares.) After
restructuring, the net loss was
$7O million, or $.25 per share
compared to $59 million, or $.40
per share for the first quarter
last year.
“Our overall performance
was somewhat better than ex
pected in the first quarter,” said
Paolo Monferino, president and
chief executive officer. “Our
sales of agricultural equipment
in the Americas were encourag
ing and in Western Europe, our
unit sales were up in a down
market.
“Our restructuring plan is on
schedule as our gross margin
and SG&A improvements dem
onstrate. We are confident that
we will achieve our full year ob
jective of merger-related profit
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SAN ANTONIO, Texas
Recent developments in agricul
ture are driving changes in the
way today’s growers manage
their crop production practices.
The introduction of crops
with customized traits requires a
new level of recordkeeping and
attention to detail in order to
preserve value and to ensure tra
ceability.
To meet this challenge, agri
business leader John Deere has
joined forces with Vantage Point
Network, and Crop Verifeye,
LLC to develop and introduce
an innovative crop identity
tracing system call Crop-
Tracer”. This new service
combines John Deere’s field
data collection technology with
Vantage Point’s data warehous-
improvements of at least $3OO
million. These improvements
will help us bring our industrial
operating margin up to $4OO
million for 2001. As a result, our
financial outlook for the year re
mains unchanged: a year-over
year reduction of approximately
$lOO million in net loss.”
First quarter net sales from
Equipment Operations totaled
$2,286 billion, down six percent
compared to $2,423 billion for
the same period in 2000.
Equipment Operations gross
margin as a percent of net sales
of equipment improved to 17.1
percent in the first quarter of
2001, compared to 15.7 percent
for the same period last year, in
spite of the decline in construc
tion equipment sales and an un
favorable product mix.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 5,2001-D7
Deere Partners To
Introduce System
ing capabilities and Crop Veri
feye’s third-party certification
and field auditing services to
build an advanced crop-tracking
system.
John Deere’s Ag Management
Solutions (AMS) group has de
veloped a new product called
Field Doc T " that works with ex
isting equipment to enable col
lection of data on field
operations in real time. Field
D°c t “ operates with the Star-
Fire” Global Position Satellite
(GPS) receiver, the GreenStar®
display, and Green Star mobile
processor.
“Field Doc software collects
and records information on all
field operations from planting to
harvest,” said Terry Porter,
marketing manager of AMS.
“All, the information can be
readily transferred to your home
computer and/or stored on the
Vantage Point Network Web site
depending on your needs.”
“New-generation Green Star
products and other systems
from AMS will be offered in the
near future to more fully auto
mate this data collection pro
cess,” Porter said.
CropVerifeye (patent pend
ing) provides ISO9OOO third
party verification of the most
stringent contract specifications.
“We offer two levels of field
audits (Gold and Silver). Our
trained auditors will verify any
and all details to meet your con
tract requirements from field
practices, varietal purity, weed
and insect control to storage site
and/or equipment sanitation,”
said Dr. Jim Mock, co-founder
and vice-president, marketing/
sales, Crop Verifeye.com.
Vantage Point Network
(www.vantagepoint.com) offers
a private, secure site to docu
ment, store, and view the col
lected information.
“Vantage Point is a tool to
help manage your information,”
said Dale Johnson, director of
commercial accounts for Vanta
ge Point Network. “This infor
mation can also be shared
discretely with your trusted
agribusiness suppliers, contrac
tors, advisers, and food proces-
sors.”
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