What are Organic Fertilizers?
The question “What is an organic fertilizer?” seems straightforward to answer, but as is often the case, the answer may be slightly more complicated than we initially thought.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ‘organic’ as “of, relating to, or derived from living organisms,” which seems clear enough. So, it might seem logical that an organic fertilizer would be a fertilizer that is “of, relating to, or derived from living organisms.” For example, a fertilizer created from animal waste, plant-based fertilizers such as compost, and biosolids.
So, is that it? Have we answered the question? Well, not quite. Animal waste, such as manure, slurry, meat processing waste, and guano, may be used as organic fertilizers, as can plant-based matter, such as compost, or biosolids that are a product of waste-water treatment processes. But there is more to organic fertilizers than this.
What do People Mean When they Say Organic Fertilizer?
Rather than referring just to fertilizers made from organic materials, the phrase organic fertilizer is more commonly used to refer to fertilizers that can be used in organic crop production. This is where the confusion arises. So, let’s take a look at what organic production is and what this means for organic fertilizers.
The Essence of Organic Production
The precise definition of organic production varies between countries and regions, which is something we will need to come back to later, but, for example, the USDA states that:
Organic food is produced using sustainable agricultural production practices. It is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation.
This definition extends the options for organic fertilizers beyond just products from plant or animal origins. The critical aspect of organic production is that it needs to adhere to the Principles of Organic Agriculture – focusing on sustainability and natural processes rather than the material’s organic compound content.
What this means in practice varies from country to country. Different countries have specific criteria that organic producers must adhere to. These criteria detail the exact requirements growers must follow to sell their produce as ‘organic.’ This includes ensuring every input used in the organic production meets the necessary criteria.
Who Handles Organic Certification?
The good news for growers is that there are certification bodies that confirm inputs meet the standards needed for organic production. The certification bodies typically conduct inspections, audits, and lab tests to ensure that farm inputs meet the defined criteria. They may also require ongoing monitoring and re-evaluation of the inputs to maintain their organic certification status.
For example, ICL’s Polysulphate fertilizer is a natural, multi-nutrient mineral fertilizer. Polysulphate is created from the natural mineral polyhalite that is just mined, crushed, and screened, ready for application. As a natural product with no chemical processes, Polysulphate is certified for organic farming in many different countries, including the USA, Canada, Europe, and Japan.
A grower wanting to sell organic produce in the USA can see the certification body OMRI states that “Polysulphate is OMRI Listed and may be used in certified organic production or food processing and handling according to the USDA National Organic Program regulations.” This means that a grower supplying produce to organic markets in the USA can be confident that Polysulphate is an organic fertilizer.
What Organic Fertilizers Does ICL Produce?
At ICL, we are proud of our products with organic certification, empowering farmers to use sustainable practices. Our selection of organic plant nutrition products includes:
Potash
ICL’s Fine and Standard Potash from the Dead Sea Works site and our ICL Iberia Potash mine are approved for organic production, providing an excellent potassium source for crop production.
Polysulphate Standard, Granular, Mini, and Premium
Polysulphate is our natural, mineral, multi-nutrient fertilizer approved for use in organic fertilizer production in countries around the world. Created from the natural mineral polyhalite, Polysulphate is a 4-in-1 fertilizer that provides four essential plant nutrients – sulfur, potassium, magnesium, and calcium – all in sulfate form.
Polysulphate’s prolonged nutrient release provides season-long nutrient availability, reducing nutrient losses and contributing to improved crop quality and higher yields.
Flecotec
ICL’s Flecotec fertilizers are natural products made without any chemical treatment. Within the Flecotec stable of products are fertilizers based on polyhalite (Polysulphate); products that have their origins in fermented high-quality, non-transgenic beet molasses; and enzymatically hydrolyzed vegetable protein. All of which are excellent sources of nutrition for organic crop production.
Nova Quick-Mg
Nova Quick-Mg is ICL’s unique potassium and magnesium natural fully soluble fertilizer derived from the minerals of the Dead Sea. Nova Quick-Mg is perfect for crops with high potassium and magnesium requirements, including sugar beet, potatoes, oil palm, tea, sugarcane, bananas, and pineapples. This high purity, low sodium product is ideal for fertigation and is approved for organic agriculture in EU, USA, and Japanese markets.
Nutrients for Organic Crops
To achieve the high-quality produce that organic markets require, growers need high-quality, nutrient-rich fertilizers. And these fertilizers must meet the rigorous standards imposed by their target market.
With a range of organic fertilizers that are either based on organic animal and plant matter, as well as high-quality organic fertilizers, including ICL’s Potash, Polysulphate, Flecotec, and Nova Quick-Mg, growers can meet their crops’ requirements, while also ensuring, thanks to the certification bodies, that their produce meets the standards that the markets, and ultimately the end users, demand.
ICL is proud of its organic fertilizer collection with the organic certification needed to empower farmers around the world to use sustainable farming practices while achieving the best quality produce.
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Flecotec creates fertile ground for successful eco farming
Flecotec is designed with your ecological product demands in mind. This range of eco-friendly fertilizers has a crop nutrition solution suited to every crop type. You can choose from liquid, water-soluble and granular fertilizers. Flecotec product range can be used in ecological agriculture in accordance with Council Regulation (CE) 2018/848. In European countries, consult the applicable local regulations for using Flecotec range as certified ecological products, or contact your ICL adviser in the region.
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The four-in-one natural fertilizer
Mined in the UK in its natural crystal state (polyhalite), Polysulphate contains four essential nutrients: sulfur (S), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and calcium (Ca), all in sulfate form. Polysulphate has a natural, unique dissolution pattern that releases nutrients gradually after application. This prolonged availability is a real plus for growers, as it reduces nutrient losses while also matching nutrient availability to the uptake requirements of crops. The net result, backed up by extensive crop trials, is that Polysulphate increases the nutrient use efficiency of crops, increasing their yield and crop quality. Polysulphate stands out as an eco-friendly choice for farmers. With its natural composition – it is simply mined, crushed, and screened – Polysulphate has an exceptionally low carbon footprint. In fact, Standard, Granular, and Mini Polysulphate have the lowest carbon footprint (compared to similar products) of just 0.0029 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of product, clearly setting Polysulphate apart from other fertilizers. Polysulphate sets the standard in environmental sustainability among fertilizers. With certification agencies around the world, including Ecocert, Ceres, Control Union, and OMRI, approving Polysulphate for organic farming systems, growers for traditional and organic markets can benefit from the PLUS of using Polysulphate. Recently, Polysulphate fertilizers were certified to comply with UK’s OF&G Standards and also approved for use in organic systems. ICL Polysulphate: Always look for the PLUS.
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Superior potash fertilizers
Potash (potassium chloride, or KCl), an essential nutrient for crop nutrition, is the most highly valued and widely used potassium fertilizer in the world, delivering the nutrient to the crop efficiently. ICL’s potash fertilizers are superb sources of potassium, produced at our environmentally friendly production sites. Our unique Dead Sea production site uses a natural evaporation process to produce potash. This process enables us to manufacture premium, high-quality potash fertilizers with a significantly lower carbon footprint than alternative products. For organic producers, there is more good news. ICL’s potash fertilizers are approved as inputs for organic farming under European regulation EU 2018/848, with FiBL, ECOCERT, and INTERECO all providing organic certification. In addition, ICL’s professional agronomic and technical teams are on hand to provide our customers with advice and support to ensure optimum potassium nutrition.
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