Humate increases nitrogen fertiliser efficiency and reduced N leaching

One of the world’s greatest challenges is achieving sustainable food security without environmental damage. The projected increase in world population and will require use of nitrogen fertilisers for food production although excess agricultural N is a major contributor to climate change and ecosystem degradation. Southern Humate is a low-cost natural organic biostimulant that can beneficially alter soil microbiome function and plant productivity. We present evidence from a 5-year field study showing that adding humate to urea, global the most widely used N fertiliser, significantly altered soil microbiome composition, increased grassland production by 13.1% and significantly decreasing topsoil N leaching by 61.4% compared with urea. The increase in N fertiliser efficiency and reduction in negative environmental impact could contribute towards development of ecologically sustainable agriculture.