Many people wonder why farmers use fertilizer on their crops. Although the soil is full of nutrients, farmers need more than what the ground offers to grow healthy crops. In many cases, the soil is missing some of the nutrients needed to grow plants. So, they will use wet or dry fertilizer to add more nutrients.
Why Farmers Use Fertilizer
After farmers harvest their crops, many of the nutrients those plants used to grow are no longer available. By using fertilizer, farmers can replenish the ground with nutrients. However, there are hundreds of different types of fertilizers on the market, and each one has its own use for specific crops. For example, when farmers grow cotton, they must use a specific fertilizer with certain nutrients that are intended just for that crop.
Agricultural Fertilizers
The most common nutrients in fertilizer are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Some fertilizers also have calcium, and some commercial farms use sulfur as a fertilizer to kill the plants on the topsoil so they can harvest what is in the ground. If the plants are in the way, farmers cannot get to the product. In the past, farmers who grew potatoes would burn the plants so they could finish their harvest.
Urea is one of the most common nitrogen fertilizers farmers use to add nitrogen to the soil. They usually apply the granules using a dry fertilizer hopper or fertilizer box. Farmers attach the hopper or box to a tractor or truck and drive through the fields applying the fertilizer.
Farmers do not rely on fertilizer exclusively to grow healthy crops. They use it as a supplement to the nutrients that are already in the ground. So, if you see a tractor pulling a piece of equipment on a plot of land, the chances are good that the farmer is using a dry fertilizer hopper to spread granules evenly across the field.
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