“Why Fertilizers are Essential for our Population Growth and Environmental Sustainability”

What would the world be like today without the fertilizers? “Among other consequences, at the population level, there would be 40% fewer inhabitants on the planet. The use of fertilizers in the crops and its extrapolation to industrial processes was a revolution that led to the exponential growth of the population”.

Indeed, the use of fertilizers, which provide the soil with substances rich in nutrients (fundamentally nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) to favor the development of agricultural crops, has allowed multiplying the production for the catering of the population. At the same time, the processes of the chemical industry for the production of these fertilizer products have been “increasingly optimized to minimize the impact environmental”.

are the words of Hunter Ribbon, project manager I+D+i of Fertiberiaprotagonist together with Antonio Domínguez, tenured professor of the Area of ​​Agroforestry Sciences (ETSI), of the last appointment of the Open Knowledge Meetingscycle promoted by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) with the collaboration of the Association of Chemical, Basic and Energy Industries (Aiqbe) of Huelva and the Office for the Transfer of Research Results (OTRI) of the UHU. The meeting corresponding to the month of March, held in the same University of Huelva, has led by title Why do we need fertilizers?

The answer is simple: “We use the fertilizers to feed us; we feed the plants and then we feed ourselves”. In this meeting, which had great interaction from the attendees, Cinta Cazador –a graduate of the University of Huelva, Chemical Engineering Degree– explained that from Grupo Fertiberia, a company dedicated above all to nitrogenous fertilizersit seeks to maximize production, under a commitment to sustainability, the circular economy, and the decarbonization of our processes –with lines of development such as green ammonia–, through nutritious solutions for crops”.

Cazador has highlighted that this sustainable commitment covers both the origin and the production of fertilizers, as well as the agricultural sector itself: “There is great awareness on the part of farmersin search of maximum efficiency with the least possible environmental impact”.

The head of R+D+i Projects Laziness and the researcher EAR highlighted the commitment that, in the field of crop fertilization, is made by technological innovation and digitization, with applications ranging “from specialized sensors, to Artificial Intelligence or the use of satellite images.” Cazador has also specified that Fertiberia has the “fundamental and necessary collaboration of companies, including SMEs, and research centers and groups”, in order to optimize industrial processes and results.

Likewise, Cinta Cazador alluded to the importance of Fertiberia’s feedback with the farmers and the different cooperatives for the sake of “measure what happens in the field”, a collaboration through which the company advises and guides the agricultural sector, which in turn “sends us soil, water and fruit samples, elements from which we draw up a subscriber plan, which is also monitored”.

For his part, Dr. Antonio Domínguez, researcher in the Area of Agroforestry Engineering, also made reference to the lines of research developed from the University of Huelva. “We have a research group that for two decades has been working on different tools designed to optimize the application of chemical fertilizers, minimizing their environmental impact”, specified the professor, who explains that “in the first phase, the programs are prepared completely adapted to the conditions of the agricultural system to be managed (type of plant, yield, pattern, soil, climate, etc.), that is, all those factors that contribute to the efficiency of fertilization”. And, once the program is designed, the necessary technology is addressed to monitor the efficiency of that application”.

Over the meetings of know open

Los Open Knowledge Meetingswhich started in November 2022, encourages the intervention of experts from the UHU and the industrial sector –companies associated with Aiqbe– with a double objective, that of sharing the projects of investigation innovators in different fields of the industrial sector, as well as explaining industrial processes that are of paramount importance in our daily lives and in our well-being, with special emphasis on innovation, sustainability and the circular economy.

Since November 2022, meetings have been held every month What color is green hydrogen? (Cepsa), What is a combined cycle? (Aiqbe), Recovery of copper through microbacterial action (Atlantic Copper), Renewable energy? (Magnon Green Energy), Petroleum derivatives in our homes (Cepsa Química), and, finally, Why do we need fertilizers? (Fertiberia). The next appointments are Biofuels from frying oil (April 27), and Is it worth disclosing today? (may 23).

This activity is integrated into the project Scientific Dissemination Plan of the University of Huelva 2022-2023 (UCC+i) with reference FCT-21-16994 approved in the Call for aid for the promotion of scientific, technological and innovation culture of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology ( FECYT), belonging to the Ministry of Science and Innovation.