A very common question among growers is: what’s the difference between compost and fertiliser? How do I best deliver the necessary nutrients? Will yields be affected? Do I need both, one, or the other? With the recent surge in fertilisers due to the global fertiliser shortage, these questions have become even more significant. Growers are […]

A very common question among growers is: what’s the difference between compost and fertiliser? How do I best deliver the necessary nutrients? Will yields be affected? Do I need both, one, or the other?

With the recent surge in fertilisers due to the global fertiliser shortage, these questions have become even more significant. Growers are intent on understanding options and alternatives regarding fertilisers.

Could manure or compost be a viable route for those who have always counted on fertilisers in the past?

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COMPOST AND FERTILISER?

Applying compost and applying fertiliser are two similar approaches to delivering nutrients to plants, however while they may seem similar, there are key differences.

Compost is a mixture of decomposed organic matter, from living and dead materials like manure, food scraps, and leaves. Once this organic matter is broken down it becomes compost, a nutrient-rich amendment that feeds the soil and promotes healthy plant growth.

Fertiliser, on the other hand, is a natural or synthetic substance, and when applied, directly supplies plants with nutrients. Natural or organic fertiliser is extracted from animal and plant byproducts. Synthetic fertilisers are chemically manufactured compounds, like ammonium nitrate and potassium sulfate.

FERTILISER SHORTAGE

Due to the global fertiliser shortage, fertiliser prices have drastically increased an average of 70% from last year. The shortage is caused by various factors such as the rising price of natural gas, a source for certain nitrogen-based fertilisers, and with Russia as the world’s largest exporter of fertilisers, the situation has worsened by sanctions and export cuts resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Soaring fertiliser prices have resulted to lead food security as pressing global issue. For growers who depend on fertilisers in order to boost harvests, applying less chemical fertiliser generally means producing lower crop yields. For consumers, lower production could mean seeing higher food prices at the grocery stores.

As growers navigate the global fertiliser shortage, many are desperately seeking alternate methods and solutions. Some farmers are turning to renewable fertilisers, like manure or compost in replacement of chemical fertilisers.

COMPOST VS FERTILISER, WHICH IS BEST?

With a global fertiliser shortage at hand, the opportunity to adapt and transition to a system that requires little to no chemical fertiliser has come into focus for many growers. While continuous application of fertiliser is effective at helping plants in the short term, turning to compost and other regenerative farming practices can help boost and rebuild the overall health of soil which ultimately see an increase in yields.

BENEFITS OF COMPOST

Compost is a resourceful way to repurpose waste, and organic matter into a rich amendment that feeds the soil. In many ways, composting encourages a circular approach, where nutrient-rich and biodegradable resources that a grower or community may already have can be repurposed and put back into the earth, creating a fertile growing medium for many seasons to come.

Adding compost restores overall soil health, thereby promoting healthy plant growth. The addition of compost improves the soil’s physical, biological, and chemical properties, allowing for multiple benefits:

• Improves soil structure
• Better water infiltration and retention
• Less soil erosion/loss and runoff
• Enhanced nutrient supply and uptake by crops
• Greater diversity of soil microbial life to help plants grow and naturally resist disease
• Greater long-term resiliency in face of challenges like drought, wildfires, and floods

With the application of compost, soil biology and function improve. How? The microbes in the soil help make existing phosphorus in the ground and nitrogen in the atmosphere plant-available. With this approach to growing, farmers and growers alike can work towards a reduction in fertiliser application over time, thereby significantly reducing input costs. Some farmers have even radically reduced or completely eliminated nitrogen fertilisers once their soil biology was restored.

Recent research in Nature showed using regenerative farming practices – increasing crop diversity and adding fertility or nitrogen-fixing crops and organic matter – produced the greatest yields only when farmers reduced the usage of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.

IMPACT OF FERTILISER

Fertilisers can be a useful way to supply targeted chemical elements to plants in the short term. While they’re used primarily to directly deliver nutrients to plants, a high dependence on chemical fertilizers can harm soil biology and cause soil to become less fertile in the long run. In most cases, overapplication of fertiliser can bring about unintended consequences like contamination of air and water.

LOOKING AHEAD

As a global fertiliser shortage persists into the unforeseeable future, opportunities to try alternate regenerative methods of tending to crops and land emerge.

When it comes to compost vs fertiliser, compost could be a solution that growers explore to achieve better soil health and long-term resiliency. While both methods provide nutrients to plants, compost also nourishes the soil. Through this nourishment, the soil becomes a robust growing medium that promotes healthy plant growth and crop yields.

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