Protect Farms from Global Fertilizer Disruptions: Invest in Soil Health

By Sarah Mock, NM Healthy Soil Working Group

As a consequence of the war in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz has been closed for nearly eight weeks, disrupting two things farmers everywhere need; diesel fuel and fertilizer.

As a result, prices for both of these products have risen significantly over the last two months, and farmers will now contend with the one-two punch of paying more for the fertilizer itself, and paying more to have it transported to their farm. But without these products, farmers that depend on them could be dealing with a smaller harvest, and in turn, a grave threat to their financial viability.

These pressures come on top of an already struggling farm economy. Many commodity prices are low, while the cost of equipment, labor, energy, insurance, and interest rates keep climbing. New Mexican farmers in particular are also facing what’s likely to be a severe water shortage later this summer.

If there was ever a time to seriously consider alternatives to synthetic, imported fertilizer products for New Mexican farmers, the time is now. Alternatives do exist– and they can be found right here in the Land of Enchantment.

Healthy Soil Reduces Fertilizer (and Water!) Needs

Healthy soil is teaming with life. It contains countless micro- and macro organisms, in symbiotic relationship with living plant roots, which retrieve and process nutrients from the air and rocks, providing them to plants and creating rich organic matter to store this natural fertility. This is one way that nature creates its own fertilizer.

For example, where synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are created in enormous factories and then shipped around the world, healthy soils, and the beneficial soil organisms that they support, can fix nitrogen directly out of the air– no global supply chain required.

In fact, USDA NRCS suggests that every additional percent of organic matter in soils on farms “could account for up to 17 pounds of nitrogen and 1.75 pounds of phosphorus per percent of organic matter.” That means that across a whole farm, every additional percentage of organic matter will save farmers hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year in added fertilizers. 

Farmers in New Mexico currently use about 199,000 tons of commercial fertilizer a year (about $72 million worth), according to USDA NASS. By increasing organic matter 1% on just one out of every ten New Mexican farmland acres, we could reduce synthetic fertilizer usage in the state by more than 25,000 tons, which could save New Mexican farmers some $10 million. 

Healthy soils can help farmers overcome some of our water challenges as well, as soils rich in organic matter have been proven to have better water-holding capacity. Research suggests this benefit could amount to as much as 20,000 gallons of additional water stored in soils for every 1% of soil organic matter. More water held in the soil means more water available for growing crops in a year of short supplies.

The Next Step: Compost Can Further Limit Imported Fertilizer Needs (and Reduce Waste)

Though healthy soils by themselves can reduce the need for added fertilizers on farms, most operations will still require some additional nutrients in order to get a full crop to harvest.

But phosphorus mines and nitrogen facilities aren’t the only places where we can find these essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and other key elements needed to grow crops. Our landfills are full of food scraps, yard and landscaping waste, manure, and even recyclable paper and wood products –all potential feedstocks for compost.

By composting these common waste stream materials, we can create nutrients and organic matter (needed by farmers and home gardeners alike!) right here at home, to reduce our reliance on synthetic fertilizers, strengthen our self-sufficiency and gain independence from the whims of the global market. 

According to the EPA, compost contains a diverse blend of micro- and macro-nutrients plants need to thrive, including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. What’s more, compost also helps balance soil pH, helping preserve healthy soil environments which in turn help plants actually absorb the nutrients when they need them most. While all compost is different, as are the nutrient needs of individual farms and fields, research suggests that compost can be used to offset synthetic fertilizer use.

Lescombes Vineyards in southern New Mexico had just this experience. According to a case study in the recent report Compost Generation and Use in New Mexico, by investing in healthy soils and applying compost to their fields, Lescombes experienced “a reduced reliance on fertilizer and pesticides and overall lower input costs.” Plus, they found that their soils and vines also become more resilient to persistent pests. And to cap it all, their annual composting program has helped transform some 2,500 tons of green waste and 1,250 tons of manure into a valuable farming input each year. 

When we zoom out from a single farm, we can see that reduced synthetic fertilizer usage also translates into a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions. Consider just synthetic nitrogen fertilizer like urea. These are produced in industrial facilities that use natural gas as fuel. Then, these granular products are transported in cargo ships, trucks, and trains around the world, creating even more fossil emissions. Once fertilizers arrive on farms and are applied, some nitrogen always escapes, some into local water tables, where it becomes a dead zone-creating pollutant (nitrate) or into the air as a potent greenhouse gas (nitrous oxide, a gas with nearly 300 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide). 

This long synthetic fertilizer supply chain explains why synthetic fertilizer use is a primary reason why agriculture is one of the most carbon intensive industries on Earth. By reducing the need for and use of these fossil-based fertilizers, we can make farming safer for our water, our air, and our world.

Now is the time to reconsider New Mexico’s fertilizer strategy and consider alternatives, and for policymakers state-wide to be focusing on investing in alternatives that support farmers through this disruption, solutions like compost and soil health.