By Larry Cooper, MA, Cert/KM
Director, Sustainability and Knowledge Management
Bio Huma Netics, Inc.
Celebrating Earth Day every April 22 is a great time to pause and reflect: How are we, today, treating the environment and the plants, animals, and people who live in it? What have we accomplished in the past year that makes our planet a better, more sustainable place to live and raise our families? What are our goals for future improvement?
In this blog, I provide a little historical perspective. How did Earth Day come to be? Why did it come about in 1970? What was life on the planet like before we started celebrating Earth Day? [Read more…]
Are we looking at a fertilizer shortage? Guess it depends on your definition. The availability of fertilizer isn’t a major concern in the US. It really wasn’t last year, either. As a good friend (who I consider to be among the best farmers in the country) told me last winter, “you can get it, it’s just a matter of how much you’re willing to spend for it.” That’s the issue many farmers are facing right now. How much do I invest? And do I seek alternatives to traditional NPK sources? Many of these alternatives, such as humate-based products, offer high value, improved soil health and lower overall rates/expenditures. Fertilizer prices remain historically high, but there’s not the degree of market volatility expected as there was last year. As a result, Q4 sales have moved slower than last year. But while input prices remain high, so do crop prices. That is incentivizing many farmers to chase yield. A recent survey confirms just that. Demand is strong for all fertilizer categories. 60% of farmers expect to increase micronutrient usage in 2023, 59% will increase liquid fertilizer, 51% will increase specialty fertilizers and 48% will increase yield enhancers/growth managers. Last week’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, which was bullish on the major commodity crops, should continue to carry momentum for yield chasers. 
To help increase awareness about sustainable agriculture production, Bio Huma Netics, Inc., (BHN) is sponsoring a FarmProgress course for Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs) and Pest Control Advisers (PCAs) in the United States and Canada.