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2500 BCE
First activities of agriculture
The earliest activities of the presence of agriculture are located in Mesopotamia, mainly in what is now known as Iraq.
There are records of obtaining high yields of barley in those fertile lands located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. -
1000 BCE
Accounts of the first uses of fertilizers
There are several stories dated by Greek insignes, between 900 and 1,000 years BC, which indicated the use of manure in the vineyards. In fact, some Romans were already able to distinguish the difference between different types of manure, and even stressed the importance of using some legumes, such as beans, clovers and alfalfa, to improve the soil. -
1200
Founder of modern agronomy
Crescenzi published a collection of agronomic practices. Many researchers argue that this was the founder of modern agronomy, although his manuscripts, apparently, belong to the times of Homer. -
1500
Ash and manure
Some writings indicate the importance of the ashes of the plants and reiterate the importance of manure as a soil improvement material. It should be noted that the use of ground bones, ashes and manures were the main fertilizer sources for several centuries. -
Begining of nitrates
Several English researchers developed various experiments trying to understand the behavior of plants. Some detected the importance of nitrates to achieve a better growth of vegetables. -
Other fertilizers, and other observations
the agricultural scholars of Baker, Young and Home, English that carried out diverse works in the field and in pots on diverse sources "fertilizantes" like pitch, oyster shells, oil, poultry manure and charcoal, among others.
During this time it was also postulated that the plants directly absorbed the soil humus, which was their main food. -
Nitrogen and phosphorus
The importance of nitrogen and especially Chilean saltpeter and also of the northern guano (red guano and white guano), as a source of phosphorus, was an enormous contribution to Western agriculture. -
Urea
German scientists managed to synthesize urea or the so-called synthetic saltpeter, which generated a notable increase in the use of nitrogen worldwide. This, in turn, allowed a huge impact on soil productivity and food production -
Growth of use
A sustained consumption of fertilizers called commodities began, especially salitres and guanos from the covaderas del norte, which were already consumed on a large scale since the beginning of the 20th century. But others also began to arrive, such as triple superphosphate, normal superphosphate, ammoniacal phosphates, calcium nitrate, muriate of potassium or sulpomag. -
Fertilizer trade
The fertilizers were commercialized without mixing, which allowed the farmer to make his own mixtures according to the requirements of his field and paddock. -
second marketing of fertilizers...
The commercialization of physical mixtures began. This technique facilitated the farmer's job of mixing fertilizers in the field, so it was quickly adopted. In addition, it had a positive impact because it allowed to level up the contents of phosphorus and potassium. However, the indiscriminate use of fertilization with mixtures increased unevenly the nutrient contents in the soils, generating excessive levels of phosphorus and potassium. -
The end of fertilizers
Complex fertilizers appeared, which correspond to chemical mixtures, in which each granule contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. This type of fertilizer has a good behavior in soils with more than one nutrient deficit. It also has the advantage that the distribution of nutrients is more homogeneous, because it allows the root of the plant to detect more uniform concentrations of the three macronutrients. However, this type of fertilizer is more expensive....
