Salinization is recognized as a threat to soil fertility worldwide.
Plants are the first in the chain of food production to be hit by salinity stress, which hampers their basic physiological and biochemical processes, such as water absorption and photosynthesis. A large number of crops are naturally sensitive to chloride and salt. Adding high-salt risk fertilizers to these crops only compounds issues including.
- Poor germination
- Nutritional imbalances
- Seedling injury and tip burn
- Stunted root and shoot growth
- Reduced soil structure
- Decreased microbial activity
Other factors that rob germinating seeds of moisture and result in injury or death are:
- Inadequate soil moisture
- Cooler soil temperatures
- Poor quality irrigation water
- Saline soil
Crop safety with regenerative fertilizers
Regenerative fertilizers are inherently lower in salt. A lower salt index addresses both agronomic and sustainability concerns. Additionally, low salt equates to less soluble and means minimum nutrient losses to the environment. All of this aids in protecting from plant injury, stress, and stunted growth.
As soil health is built, productivity rises, and farms require fewer input chemicals such as fertilizer. The positive impact of regenerative practices can also be seen in other ways, including:
- Improved soil health
- Increased biodiversity and water quality
- Reduced water requirements
- Climate change resilience
Leveraging soil’s own biology
Regenerative practitioners and scientists agree that reducing synthetic chemicals leads to healthy soil.
Conventional fertilizer is designed to provide sufficient nutrition for the plant with the aim to maximize crop yield. And while it works well to deliver nutrients to the plant, it doesn’t do much to improve the health of the soil the plant is grown in. In fact, in excess, conventional fertilizer can change the pH of the soil, leaving it more acidic, more susceptible to disease, and less able to withstand changing moisture conditions.
Working with natural systems, rather than against, Replenish Nutrients regenerative fertilizers help unlock nutrients that are tied up in the soil, leveraging the soil’s own biology to deliver nutrition when the plant needs it most.
