Agriculture has always relied on innovation to keep up with the demands of a growing population. While traditional farming methods focused on soil health, crop rotation, and manual pest control, modern techniques incorporate a range of chemical solutions to improve growth and protect yields.
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These chemicals help farmers tackle challenges that could otherwise devastate crops and livestock, from nutrient deficiencies in the soil to the threat of invasive pests and diseases.
While we’ll be focusing on crop agriculture, there is natural overlap between some elements due to the nature of the industry at a whole.
Fertilisers supply essential nutrients to crops, helping them grow healthily
Pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, protect crops from weeds, disease, and insects
The judicious use of these chemicals is crucial to minimise environmental impact and ensure sustainable farming practices
Chemicals are used in agriculture for three main reasons:
Fungicides are used to prevent and treat diseases in crops, especially as they are susceptible to foliar diseases caused by:
While fungicides can be highly effective, the selective breeding of plants over thousands of years has made preventing and treating diseases very challenging. This is because inbreeding has now reached a point where some of the recessive genetic abnormalities become phenotypically expressed and amplified.
Some of the desirable traits of plants, such as being seedless, can also make plants more vulnerable to disease. In fact, many of them have lost their ability to propagate without human intervention, meaning they’re not able to survive alone in the natural environment.
Whether organic or inorganic, fertilisers provide the necessary nutrients to help plants grow and function. While they are typically applied to the soil where the crops are planted, other crop cultivation systems (such as hydroponics) can supply nutrients directly to the plant’s roots.
Fertilisers contain key nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium compounds that can be easily absorbed by plants. These nutrients help to keep plants healthy and, in turn, increase production. For example, the nitrogen in ammonia-based fertilisers is essential for producing amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
Due to inbreeding and monocropping practices, many crops are vulnerable to pests such as insects, rodents, and weeds. Insecticides, herbicides, and rodenticides are chemicals designed to eliminate these threats. Their use helps in reducing crop losses and maintaining the quality of produce.
Herbicides are chemicals formulated to specifically kill weeds and other invasive, unwanted plants that interfere or compete with agricultural crops. They can kill the target pest plant, or weed, without killing the crop plants, in four ways:
Vegetable crops are vulnerable to different fungi, as fungi makes them rot. Fungicides are specifically formulated to kill fungi and oomycetes (water moulds) that infect plants.
These chemicals work in different ways, such as damaging the cell membrane or inhibiting certain essential processes in fungal metabolism.
Phosphorus is one of the three important minerals that plants need to grow and stay healthy.
It’s a mineral that’s usually in the form of orthophosphate when absorbed from the soil. It plays an important role in root growth and increasing how well plants use and take in water.
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Nitrogen is another essential nutrient supplied by fertilisers and is a critical component of amino acids and proteins, which are needed for plants to be able to grow. Nitrogen fertilisers enhance leaf development and overall plant vigour, leading to increased yields.
Potassium is the last of the three important elements that have a critical part to play in both plant growth and the way plants work.
Absorbed by plants in the form of potassium chloride, and found both naturally and in commercial fertilisers, it’s associated with the movement of carbohydrates, water, and other nutrients in plant tissues. It’s also important in enzyme activation that regulates protein synthesis and adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
Insecticides are chemicals used to control insects that damage crops.
By targeting harmful insects, these chemicals help protect crop yields and quality, helping make sure that produce meets market standards and grows healthily.
Agriculture is the lifeblood of the global economy. It provides the main food ingredients and other related products that we need such as milk, eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, root crops, and grains. It’s essential for our food security and, ultimately, our survival.
Beyond that, it’s also a major economic powerhouse, with gross value in this market projected to hit $5.52 trillion by worldwide. In the UK alone, the Total Income from Farming (TIFF) in was £7.2 billion. While these figures cover the industry as a whole, they can be further split down into individual sectors, such as livestock, wheat farming, agricultural chemical manufacturing, and so on.
With the interconnected nature of farming to our tables, our everyday lives, and to our economy, it’s a vital part of how modern life works, and the importance of it cannot be understated.
Chemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides are crucial tools for today’s agriculture. They help with disease prevention, enhance crop production, and protect against pests, thereby ensuring food security and supporting economic growth. However, using them responsibly is important to both reduce environmental impact and increase sustainable farming.
There are many benefits to using agricultural chemicals on your farm, including protecting your crops and in turn, protecting your crop yield. However, accidents do happen, and chemical spills can be dangerous. Here we discuss how to avoid chemical spills and provide tips for what to do if it happens on your property.
Managing Agricultural Chemicals
The use of ag chemicals is part of the job, and it comes with great responsibility. Understanding the dangers of these chemicals and how to use them safely can prevent a toxic situation.
When you’re dealing with powerful chemicals, you’ll want to make sure you’re protected from harmful skin contact with personal protective equipment. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, personal protective equipment — commonly referred to as "PPE" — is equipment worn to minimize exposure to hazards that cause serious workplace injuries and illnesses. These items may include gloves, safety glasses and shoes, earplugs or muffs, hard hats, respirators, coveralls, vests and full body suits.
Agricultural chemical safety is important not only for you as the owner of your operation, but also for the people working with hazardous chemicals under your watch. All employers with hazardous chemicals in their workplaces must have labels and safety data sheets for their exposed workers, and train employees to handle the chemicals appropriately, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides free resources on their website.
Safety measures are important for farm chemical storage on your property to reduce the risk of contamination. Check container labels for proper storage instructions and only buy the amount of chemicals you will need in the near future to avoid stockpiling. Chemicals should always be kept out of reach of children and animals and never in the same area as food, animal feed or medical supplies.
When handling toxic chemicals, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings and have information on the type of chemical you are using in the case of an emergency. Always wear the appropriate protective equipment and never eat, drink or smoke near the chemicals.
Plan Ahead and Be Prepared