WHAT'S IN THE BAG

[Music] today as every day our nation's farmers are hard at work their job is big their Labor's give us the raw materials to feed and clothe our people and it takes a lot of work to feed and clothe all our people it takes a lot of plant food to nourish our nation's crops and the American farmer has learned to use commercial fertilizer to take care of these plant food needs for these plant foods our farmers have turned to the fertilizer industry which each year manufactures millions of tons of fertilizer representing an investment of over a billion dollars the fertilizer industry processes raw materials into finished fertilizers for farm use locked in these compounds as they pour from the factory are the primary plant foods needed by all growing plants nitrogen available phosphate and potash plus such other nutrients as may be required these are the chemical symbols used to designate these plant foods n p2o5 and k2o the percentage of each primary plant food is clearly shown on the bag the first figure represents fertilizer nitrogen which comes to us in many forms and combinations throughout the nation manufacturing plants have been built to produce nitrogen compounds for use by agriculture from the skies above us even from the air we breathe these great manufacturing plants extract nitrogen and through the miracles of chemistry change it into usable forms for growing crops [Music] these huge complex chemical manufacturing units costing tens of millions of dollars require skillful operation and consume enormous amounts of power in these plants nitrogen taken from the atmosphere is combined with other chemicals commonly called carriers as a first step anhydrous ammonia is formed by chemically uniting nitrogen and hydrogen under pressure ammonia normally a gas is compressed and stored in high-pressure tanks called Horton spheres ammonia is a starting point for the manufacture of many solid and liquid nitrogen fertilizers ammonia itself is also used as a fertilizer this ammonia is used to make nitric acid which when treated with more ammonia yields ammonium nitrate when nitric acid is reacted with sodium compounds sodium nitrate is produced nitrate of soda also comes from natural deposits in Chile nitric acid reacted with calcium carbonate yields calcium nitrate fertilizer ammonia combined with sulfuric acid produces ammonium sulfate ammonium may be combined with phosphoric acid to produce ammonium phosphate ammonia reacted with carbon dioxide produces urea liquid forms of nitrogen fertilizer are sometimes made by mixing these and other nitrogen bearing materials in water coke oven gas a byproduct of the steel industry is another source of ammonia this ammonia is usually processed into ammonium sulfate nitrogen can also be captured from air where the use of electric arcs as is done in this plant the nitrogen fertilizer so produced is calcium cyanamide synthetic nitrogen materials and natural nitrate of soda are imported by this country in substantial quantities various animal and vegetable products like the cottonseed shown here may be processed into nitrogen fertilizer now what about phosphate the second figure on the fertilizer bag the United States is very fortunate in possessing large quantities of phosphate rock the source of this necessary plant food a substantial portion of the world's phosphate comes from our extensive mining operations mines such as this require thousands of acres and large amounts of capital [Music] large deposits of phosphate rock are located in Florida and Tennessee also in the western states of Idaho Montana Utah and Wyoming the natural phosphate mineral which as in Florida is often found a few feet below the earth's surface is stripped mined by enormous strike lines millions of years ago this phosphate deposit was laid down on the bed of an ancient see the phosphate or is the remains of many billions of marine animals bones and teeth of prehistoric fish they still be found in some of these deposits powerful water jets are used to convert the deposit into a slurry [Music] this slurry is then talked through pipes to the refinery where it is scrubbed and screened to remove impurities also in the West large deposits of phosphate rock are mined and processed for fertilizers the refined phosphate regardless of origin is analyzed and graded before being shipped to phosphate processing plants all over the country [Music] in these processing plant specially designed machinery converts the valuable phosphate into forms more readily usable for growing crops [Music] superphosphate the most widely used osmotic fertilizer is made by treating ground phosphate rock with diluted sulfuric acid as is being done here the acid treating process called a situation converts the relatively insoluble phosphate rock into a more useful plant food following a situation this super phosphate is further processed and cured to give a top quality product another acid called phosphoric is produced by treating this phosphate rock with an excess of the same sulfuric acid usually this phosphoric acid is used to treat more phosphate rock thus producing concentrated super phosphate or the phosphoric acid is reacted with ammonia to produce ammonium phosphate phosphoric acid is also produced from phosphate rock by means of an electric furnace and acid burner a recent development in this country has been the production of a nitrogen phosphate fertilizer called nitro phosphate made by treating phosphate rock with nitric acid all types of phosphate materials supply phosphate essential for plant nutrition among these are super phosphate concentrated super phosphate ammonium phosphate night for a phosphate phosphoric acid now what about potash represented by the third figure on the fertilizer bag the development of the potash industry in the United States stands as an inspiring monument to the ingenuity and enterprise of our agricultural chemical industry large deposits are located in the West principally in New Mexico and California with minor deposits in Utah and Michigan potash minerals such as these exhibiting all the wondrous beauty of nature are mined and refined to a high state of purity for use as agricultural and industrial potash from underground the raw ore is mined and transported to modern refineries where the valuable potash is recovered ancient Searles lake in the Mojave Desert in California is a storehouse of nature's chemicals it yields a brine from which agricultural potash and other chemicals are obtained in these vast western areas the work goes on every day of the year to meet the constantly increasing demand for potash Yuriy eight of potash represents over 90% of the potash contained in fertilizer sulphate of Pradesh and sulphate of potash magnesia are among other potash containing materials these fertilizer raw materials containing nitrogen phosphate or potash must then be shipped to mixing plants where stockpiles are kept to ensure adequate supplies for the areas served from these stockpiles the materials are processed into mixed fertilizers designed to meet the specific needs of the individual crops now let's see what actually goes into the making of a ton of 10-10-10 fertilizer typical ingredients are eight hundred four pounds of nitrogen carrying materials such as nitrogen solutions ammonium sulfate and urea these materials provide 10 units of nitrogen this gauge measures the amount of nitrogen solution being weighed into the mixture the necessary phosphate comes principally from super phosphates and concentrated super phosphates these materials totaled another 862 pounds the materials fall into a large hopper and the weight is registered on an accurate scale the required potash is supplied by 334 pounds of Murie 8 of potash the total 2,000 pounds after weighing the solid and liquid materials are carefully combined in the mixing drum which serves as a chemical reactor after the fertilizer is made the elevators and conveyors carry into storage bins where it is allowed to cure this provides time for the chemical reactions between the components to be completed the cured product is taken from these storage bins and ground prior to bagging the result a fertilizer having good physical condition in some plants fertilizer mixtures are put into a granular or pellet form this job requires the use of additional processing equipped such as granulator x' dryers and coolers periodic chemical tests are made on each run to ensure a fertilizer of uniform plant food content this is the finished product this 100 pound bag of 10-10-10 fertilizer guaranteed to contain 10 pounds of nitrogen 10 pounds of available phosphate and 10 pounds of available potash giving a total of 30 pounds of the three primary plant foods the remaining 70 pounds in the bag consists principally of the elements with which these three primary plant nutrients are combined and which serve as couriers without carriers these primary plant food elements would not be usable as fertilizers now let's go to the laboratory and meet AJ Engel scientists in the fertilizer section of the US Department of Agriculture is going to demonstrate why we cannot use pure nitrogen phosphorus or potassium as fertilizers first let's take the element nitrogen at ordinary temperatures is a colorless gas so you actually can't see it in this bell jar we have nitrogen displacing the colored liquid here we have nitrogen cooled 320 degrees below zero it's a liquid which evaporates as soon as it warms up nitrogen in either of these forms cannot be used by growing plants to make it available it must be combined with other elements this model illustrates how the elements are chemically combined in the molecule of ammonium sulfate the molecule contains two atoms of nitrogen eight atoms of hydrogen four atoms of oxygen and one atom of sulphur about 20% of the weight of ammonium sulfate is available nitrogen the other elements make up the remaining 80% next let us take a look at phosphorus the building stone of phosphate here we have pure phosphorus see how it burst into flame as soon as exposed to the warm air it too must be combined with other elements before it can be used as a plant food finally here's potassium the active ingredient of potash it's a soft silvery white metal it reacts violently with water consequently potassium alone can't be used as a fertilizer but must be combined with other elements to give compounds which can be handled safely I trust that this little demonstration has shown you why fertilizers by necessity are not 100 percent plant foods as assured by the analysis on the bag this one hundred pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer contains 30 pounds of the primary plant nutrients nitrogen phosphate and potash but such carriers as calcium and sulfur are also plant nutrients in their own right so the bag really contains more plant nutrients than are guaranteed the contents of the bag represent the tremendous scientific know-how of the chemical fertilizer industry but the story doesn't end here the farmers see much more than chemical compounds when they look at a bag of fertilizer they see an opportunity to produce crops of better quality at lower cost they see green healthy more productive crops they see a more prosperous and healthier America an America that long has remained strong and great with the efforts of farmers who till their soil and care for its needs they see food grown at lower cost minerals that help mother nature make more profit for farmers and a higher standard of living for consumers everywhere they see the strong fibers from enriched soils soils that make America the best clothes nation in the world these essential minerals these plant foods are a vital part of our strength America needs good fertilizers to help build a strong agriculture for the future