How Is Fertilizer Made? My Son Asks Me Everything I Know

[00:00:00]Abe here. Uh, natural fertilizer. Today I've got another very special guest. I always have a special guest, but special guest is Bus Sanquist, my son. He has been a lot of help here lately on the farm doing stuff and he's very interested in our business and he's very interested in how things work. Um, that is one cool thing about this kid. He has a number of questions that he wants to ask me. Um, and this could be something hopefully and maybe it's questions that uh that your child may have as well and uh we can try to answer those questions.

[00:00:34]So, Bodus, say uh say hello and um tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you like?

[00:00:40]>> Okay. Um I'm Bodus Sanquest. I'm very excited to do this podcast with him.

[00:00:46]I've been waiting a long time.

[00:00:48]>> But what's your what's one of your favorite hobbies?

[00:00:50]>> Um I love to swim. It's super I love to swim. It helps with your arms, legs, and breathing. And that's just my favorite sport. And my h one of my hobbies is drawing. I just love to do that. But I also love going out with my dad and helping him, especially when we go haul out cows. I like to I love to do that with him.

[00:01:11]>> Yep. I like it when you come along, too.

[00:01:13]So, all right, B. So, you've got some questions and >> I have a um in on my phone. So first question is why do some plants need more fertilizer than other plants?

[00:01:25]>> Okay, it probably depends on the kind of plant, right? So some plants are legumes that um actually have a riseobial bacteria that forms around the root and that riseobial bacteria is able to fixate nitrogen from the air and provide nitrogen to that plant. monocott type products like grasses and corns and those things they don't they don't necessarily naturally have that um that type of bacteria that helps. So um all crops need certain amount of nutrients.

[00:01:59]Some crops have a way of fixating their own uh nutrients such as nitrogen.

[00:02:04]>> Um next question. What um what should kids around my age? I'm I'm 11. What kids my age should know about like fertilizer and like kind of that sort of in like stuff like >> compost and stuff that we >> like what should they learn what should they know about that around >> so um when you when you go to when you're at school eating lunch b >> how many kids throw away quite a bit of their food that they eat >> they usually have like at least a quarter left of their food >> there's some of their food is left and So why do you think what do humans eat food for?

[00:02:45]>> Because for muscle or for body fat and so they don't >> nutrition.

[00:02:50]>> Yeah.

[00:02:51]>> And so they don't or just so then they can live basically. Yeah.

[00:02:55]>> So then they don't starve.

[00:02:57]>> So they have to have the food because they're getting nutrition. And that food was either grown um either um livestock or from plants, right? So all that nutrition came from the soil to feed us humans. And and if we throw away a good portion of our food, I'm not saying you have to eat it, but if we throw away a good portion of that food and it goes to the landfill, then what happens?

[00:03:22]>> Then it's wasted.

[00:03:24]>> It's wasted. It just goes away. It doesn't get utilized anymore. So that's one thing I would like anybody to recognize is that a waste wasted organic matter or wasted food that we don't eat is actually nutrients that kind of never get to complete anymore. The cycle, right? So normally the cycle of nutrients is we harvest our crops from the fields, right? And then we feed those to livestock. And then when we process livestock or our grains, then that's what we get to eat for food. And then we process those materials and some of it we excrete when we go to the bathroom, which is kind of weird, right?

[00:04:06]But then other parts of it stay in our bodies, >> right? And we grow with them until the day that we're we die, right? So that is the nutrient cycle. And if we don't utilize those materials in in the right way, then then those nutrients are lost.

[00:04:25]And again, I'm not saying that that you have to eat it all if you're not hungry, but I would say that there does there will be someday a collection system where we can separate those organic materials um like your food waste from like plastics and stuff like that. So we can take the food waste and haul it to a compost facility where we can recondition that material and put it back on the field again. What do you think kids your age would would think about that? Do they think about stuff like that?

[00:04:58]>> I would probably not think so cuz a lot of kids usually there's still a quarter like how I said there's probably a decent amount of their food still left.

[00:05:05]And for the people who do finish a lot of their food, that's good. But even sometimes there's people who like like some people they just like are just wanting to talk and they don't they waste so much food. They just throw away like like 70% of their food which I know is not good at all cuz then that's just wasting so much.

[00:05:23]>> Just wasted. Yep. Yep.

[00:05:25]food that was.

[00:05:27]>> So, we need to think about that and and over time there'll be new infrastructure and new policies and new ways that we can maybe source separate those organics and recycle them.

[00:05:41]>> Um, next question. Can too much fertilizer hurt a plant or a crop?

[00:05:48]>> That is a great question. So, yes, you can overfertilize crops. mainly its nitrogen will hurt the crop if it's overfertilized, right? It just gets too much and it grows so fast that when it grows really really fast, it doesn't grow good, right? So, the leaf structure is thin and it creates a problem with maybe potential for diseases and those type of things. So, it's like eating too much food. It's just not your body can't process it and the plants can't process it. And then other things that happen with too much fertilizer is the soil becomes out of balance, right? The soil wants to be in balance of so much, you know, phosphorus, so much potassium, so much calcium, magnesium, those things. And if we overfertilize, we get those ratios out of balance. And then it's kind of like, you know, when we're eating food, we always, mom always says, I want you to eat your greens, right? like your broccoli and carrots, even though I know you don't like all those, but that's all right. And then the meats and stuff like that.

[00:06:56]>> And then we've got carbs. So, all of those pieces to our diet contains different kinds of nutrient. And those nutrients complete the balanced diet system that we need to feed our bodies.

[00:07:09]The soil needs the same thing. It needs a balanced diet. So, too much of anything is not always a good thing. I always say you could maybe even get fat eating too many carrots.

[00:07:19]>> Yeah. And if any any of too much food can obviously make you fat. But um this one um some people probably already know. But how do you make fertilizer?

[00:07:28]>> So there's many different kinds of fertilizer, right? So there is some fertilizer [snorts] that is inhydroammonia that is done through the harbor Bosch system and it is um pulled from the air. Some fertilizer is mined from the earth, right? So, we go and we dig holes in the ground. We find all these old deposits of pod ash and phosphorus and sulfur and all those things. We bring it back to the soil surface and we apply it back to fields.

[00:07:57]That is a commercial fertilizer system.

[00:07:59]Other kinds of fertilizer is just recycled plants or pre-digested plants like manurses and those things that are organic matter that was harvested and and utilized and then just doesn't it's disposed of back to the field and the microbes break it down and it goes back into the soil. So really that is a system recycling system and the other um components of fertilizer the other processes of making fertilizer are not necessarily like sustainable because that hole that we dig in the ground may eventually just go away. There may not be any left someday for like maybe for your great grandkids the fertilizer could be all gone. So, if we don't think about trying to recycle the fertilizer that we have, then there might be a day where it's like, oh, it's hard to grow enough crops to feed all the humans in the world because we ran out of fertilizer.

[00:09:00]>> Yeah. Um, next question. What happens if fertilizer gets into a river or a lake?

[00:09:06]>> That's a good question. a fertilizer, mainly phosphorus and nitrogen, when they get into the water, a lake or a river, what happens is is that it it stimulates kind of a biological system inside that water and it pretty much takes up all the oxygen, right? So, like little algae and stuff kind of grows in there and that algae is taking oxygen. Well, it creates what they call hypoxy and it's a lack of oxygen in that water. And you know what?

[00:09:36]Do you think a fish needs oxygen?

[00:09:39]>> No.

[00:09:40]>> Kind of does. It kind of gets some oxygen from the water, but it doesn't breathe oxygen like you and I do. But when the plants take all the oxygen out of the water, the fish have to move away. So, it actually causes a kind of a dead zone in the water because all this extra fertilizer is in there and it's growing this algae and it's utilizing all this uh oxygen out of the water and creating problems. [music] So, so naturally you'll have soil and different things get into the water, but usually you get more fertilizer in the water when you have heavier fertilizer like applications to fields and stuff.

[00:10:19]>> Do farms use the same fertilizer for all crops?

[00:10:24]>> Not necessarily. You know, so compost and manure really, right? That's like natural fertilizer. [music] That is kind of the way it was designed to happen. And um so compost and manures could be applied to any crop and it will help to a certain extent. Other types of fertilizer like nitrogen and stuff is only going to you [music] be used to grow more like grass crops and you won't need that for like a legume crop like I said like alalfa or soybeans or something like that that's going to fixate its own nitrogen. So fertilizer and nutrients are used by all crops but some of them need more than others at different times. Are their fertilizers made from natural ingredients?

[00:11:07]>> Yes, recycled fertilizer from organic materials, decomposed organic materials is fertilizer that is made from natural ingredients. Even the mind fertilizers like phosphates and pod ash, those are somewhat natural to a certain extent.

[00:11:25]They're harvested from the soil, but it's not it's mechanically done and it's not in the way that that natural fertilizer works where we microbial break down organic matter and turn it back to the nutrients that it originally came from.

[00:11:41]>> How do you know what fertilizer is best for each type of thing that you're applying it to?

[00:11:48]>> Each plant. Yeah, >> mainly it we're just know that based off of the type of um the genetics and the the type of plant that it is, right?

[00:11:57]Like I talked about, legume crops need don't need nitrogen, but they do need other materials, other like a lot of pot ash and maybe some phosphates. And corn crops are going to need more nitrogen and sulfur and some, you know, more phosphates. So, it's kind of like just the type of plant will help you decide what kind of fertilizer to put on.

[00:12:19]>> Why do plants need fertilizer if they already have soil?

[00:12:25]>> That is a good question because a lot of people will say that we don't need to fertilize if we manage our soil better. we really probably don't need as much fertilizer as we do like microbial biological stimulation.

[00:12:44]So when microbes are microbes are little tiny bugs that live inside the soil [music] and there's all the way from earthworms clear down to just like little tiny bacteria and those things will slowly eat on like parent material like rocks and [music] organic matter and different things that are inside the soil and they'll break it down and release nutrients that the net crop next crop grows. So, if the system is working correctly and we harvest from here and we digest these materials through livestock or whatever and the and the nutrients come back, you never really have to add fertilizer. Um, you know, the way it was kind of designed, think about all of this land at one time was a prairie, right? There was no houses here. There was tall grass everywhere. There was buffalo and deer >> and trees >> and and maybe some trees and grass and there was no humans, right? So when buffalo would roam the earth, they would eat the grass >> and then what happens after they eat grass?

[00:13:55]>> The grass would grow back.

[00:13:56]>> The grass grows back and what happens to the buffalo? It poops >> and that fert and then it's fertilizer that grows the >> the next crop. So inside that buffalo's gut, it has all these little proteins and and nitrogen and all these and phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, all these different micronutrients that guess where it got those from? The soil >> because it well it got it from the plant, the grass. And the grass got it from the soil and then the buffalo ate it and then it pooped and then it grew the next crop. So it was a system that we never had to add fertilizer because it was constantly revolving. The reason why we sometimes have to add fertilizer now is because we harvest from one area and then we take it to somewhere else.

[00:14:45]We process it and then we take it again somewhere else and we feed it to either livestock or humans. And then sometimes those nutrients don't come back. So, we're in a constant like harvest and deposit cycle and not a harvest and then, you know, food and then res and then recycle system, right? We're not in a closed loop system. We're more in a harvest and deposit system. So, if we can get to more of a closed loop, we don't need fertilizer as much. If we don't do that, then we're going to have to buy something to replace what we're taking off.

[00:15:24]How often should fertilizer be used?

[00:15:28]>> So, fertilizer should be used, okay, nitrogen, you use it kind of annually to a certain degree on grass crops. Other than that, what we would recommend is that you take a sample of your soil and we analyze it through a lab that would tell us how much of each nutrient is in that. It's like taking your blood test, right? and figuring out what's all in that and tell us if it's good or bad. We can do that with the soil and figure out how much extra nutrient, how much leftover nutrient is in there [music] and then we'll know how much to add for the next year. And a lot of this research was done through land grant universities to help humans understand how to grow crops because you know we have to have crops for us to survive as humans. Can fertilizer be used on house plants?

[00:16:22]>> All fertilizer can be used on any type of plant to a certain level. And notice here, we don't I guess we have them over there, but um Bodus and mom like to plant flowers around the house and we put compost in the into the beds before we plant flowers. And um they seem to grow good. And what's one reason why we need organic matter or compost in our flower beds? One is for the nutrients, right? The fertilizer.

[00:16:53]>> What's another reason, do you think?

[00:16:54]>> Um, so it can grow.

[00:16:57]>> So it grows. What does what happens when you put water on it?

[00:17:02]Does it like soak up the water?

[00:17:06]>> Well, it kind of does, but >> it turns to mud.

[00:17:08]>> Yeah.

[00:17:08]>> Right. So what's it what's it's doing is the organic matter is swelling up and it's storing that water for the plant to use it and then as it plant uses it and the the sun dries it it kind of slowly dries back down again then you guys water and it goes back up. So the soil and compost actually enhances soil doing this way uh from that from that uh compost actually enhances the soil through adding a uh acting like a sponge where it'll hold more nutrients and more water. It'll help the plant be more resistant to drought stress and and a lot of other a lot of other factors.

[00:17:51]What is the most popular fertilizer your company makes?

[00:17:57]>> You know, we don't really have a most popular one. Um, but the fertilizers that we do make are >> um >> natural fertilizers, but then also uh and we don't make them by the way. We kind of do, but we reclaim them and condition them into products that can be utilized by farmers. And um so we'll put them in a um through a process, our [music] composting process to decompose those organic materials [music] and turn them back to fertilizer. And um so compost is one of our favorite ones because it does so many things for the soil. [music] We also make sure we we recommend to our clients to use egglime.

[00:18:42]And what egg lime does, Bo, is that it changes the pH, right? So the pH, the percent hydrogen, we have to have the right kind of pH in your body, the right kind of pH in the soil, and everything kind of revolves around that on the chemistry wise. [music] So if we don't you utilize egg limes to adjust our pH, we might not have the nutrient availability that we want. And another thing we also use is gypsum. Gypsum is a product that um helps loosen the soil up because the soil is like these little clay balls that tie together and when we put calcium in there, it kind of separates them and makes like little rocks. So then the oxygen can get down through there. And you know why we want oxygen in our soil? Cuz the mic the microbes that are in there that break down all the organic matter.

[00:19:30]>> So then it can >> they need they need to breathe.

[00:19:32]>> Yeah. So it can Oh. So, if you squish them all out, then they can't breathe.

[00:19:37]Then they won't go to work making next year's fertilizer. But if you separate the particles, and gypsum is what we use to help with that, then it lets oxygen inside the air spaces, then the microbes can go to work and they can cycle all those nutrients that we have in the soil.

[00:19:53]>> How long does fertilizer stay in the soil for? So lot of uh mainly phosphorus stays just like a long time. The only way you can lose phosphorus is if you lose soil.

[00:20:07]Lot of other nutrients like potassium, sulfur, those things. I mean they do move with the water, right? So when water goes through that soil profile, it does capture some nutrient and move it on through and carry it lower in the system. But most of the new most of the nutrients will stay here if we have a good stable system um working in working in our soil with organic matter and good CEC ratios and and all of those things.

[00:20:35]>> Like what nutrients does plants need the most? Um, okay. That's a good question and I'm going to think outside the box here, but so a lot of people in agriculture would say um like aronomous would say, "Oh, nitrogen. Nitrogen is the one that we need the most."

[00:20:56]But actually, it's carbon.

[00:21:00]So carbon, how does a plant get carbon?

[00:21:03]Um, >> what is, so if you've learned this in biology class yet, what do humans breathe in?

[00:21:12]>> Oxygen.

[00:21:13]>> What do they breathe out?

[00:21:14]>> Air. No.

[00:21:15]>> Um, carbon dioxide.

[00:21:17]>> Carbon. Yeah, carbon dioxide.

[00:21:18]>> What do plants breathe in?

[00:21:21]>> Um, oxygen.

[00:21:23]>> Carbon dioxide.

[00:21:24]>> Yeah, carbon dioxide.

[00:21:25]>> And what do they breathe out?

[00:21:27]>> Oxygen.

[00:21:28]>> Oxygen. Sorry, I got mixed up.

[00:21:30]>> No, that's okay. It's really a cycle of plants and animals working together, right? So the plant breathes in essentially breathes in carbon, CO2, turns it to carbon, uses sunlight, uses water and nutrients from the soil, and it creates this this large um factory, if you will, right? That's creating that's making carbon and making this its organic matter base. and it breathes back out oxygen and we breathe that oxygen in and breathe back out CO2.

[00:22:05]>> So, it's almost the opposite.

[00:22:06]>> It's the opposite. The crops need humans and the humans need crops. I mean, it's probably a little more technical than that, but it's a good way for kids to understand how that really works.

[00:22:19]>> How did your company get started with >> Bo? When I was your age, um, I loved agriculture, right? I loved hanging out with my grandpa and my uncles and uh and my dad and I learned a lot about livestock and it's just something I always wanted to do. I always wanted to be a farmer, right? And so I went to school to be an aronomist and so I can study like so I can help farmers like learn how to put what kind of fertilizers to put on and how to protect their crops and stuff like that. And so then I went to uh work for the Natural Resource Conservation Service and it's a uh it's a um a government agency that helps farmers understand like how to improve soil, water, air, plants and animals, right? So to help them improve all the different aspects of the living um systems on this on the planet. And when I went to work for that business that that organization I I learned a lot of things and I thought you know I want to go on my own and I want to start a business that helps farmers because I feel like I found a niche that needs to be captured, right? that um that needs to be uh I need to educate people about why we need to how we need to utilize these leftover organic materials like manurses and other byproducts. So, um, it, you know, I never thought I would be doing what I do. Um, when I was your age, I never would have thought that.

[00:24:02]Even when I was in high school, I never would have thought that. But now, I'm so glad that that I was given a a path in life to um to hopefully make a difference on this planet, right? So, that's what we all kind of want to do someday. But um and uh you know if you want to be involved in this business in the future then you know >> we'll be able to do it together. Bo.

[00:24:28]>> Yep. How many people work at your company?

[00:24:31]>> So we have um around 30 full-time and a number of part-time.

[00:24:38]So 35 to to 50 people probably at any one time would be working with our business.

[00:24:45]all the way from contractors to full-time employees and and they're all the way from aronomists to um environmental compliance people to sales people to truck drivers and everybody in between. mechanics and we have a great group of people that all kind of like focus and they don't realize that but they all kind of get together with one goal in mind and that goal is to unite agriculture industry to complete the nutrient cycle and we need all of those people to do what we do.

[00:25:23]>> We got three more. What does a typical day look like for some for someone who works there?

[00:25:31]>> A typical day for it depends on what division that you're working with, right? So, if you're on our um livestock um side of things with logistics and loading, you might be running like a wheel loader or a skid loader like cleaning all this manure up and gathering it together and loading up put on dump trucks. If you're a truck driver, you might be driving that dump truck or side dump that takes it down the road and piles it and then you're working on equipment and you're helping us kind of you're helping all of our clients manage the whole process of manure. And if you are an eronomist working with us um or a uh advisor, you're going to be talking to someone all day long and saying, "Hey, do you realize that you've got 4,000 cows and you've got 2,000 acres of ground, so you're making twice as much fertilizer than as you need every day." And some people might see like, I didn't realize that. Well, that's why your soil tests are getting [music] higher. So, let's help you design a nutrient system that your neighbors can get product and you don't have to have the expense and also maybe you get some [music] income. So, it's a good kind of recycling system.

[00:26:51]So, there's all kinds of things and we also need both we need people that like help us keep track of all this stuff, right? Keep track of where all the nutrients are going to help with environmental compliances. like people at the um >> they're like almost like >> on the computer >> the computer stuff. Yep. They're helping us like keep track of where all the materials are going and helping us with all the paperwork that needs to be filed. And then we have um uh teams that help us with all the financial side of making sure all of our employees are paid on time and making sure all of our all of our taxes are paid and making sure all of our insuranceances are done.

[00:27:31]And so it takes a large array of talent to run any organization.

[00:27:40]And uh again we are so proud of the people that we have.

[00:27:44]>> Last one. Why did you decide to make this um to make fertilizer?

[00:27:50]>> We all go get jobs to make money, right?

[00:27:53]That's what we have to do, right? So that is um kind of how it works because you have to have money to to live. It just it takes it. But if you can have money and make a solid impact on something and someday retire or when you're finally done and thinking, you know, I might have just hauled manure every day, but I was part of something that had meaning and purpose.

[00:28:30]And I particularly like finding large problems and trying to figure out ways to solve it.

[00:28:40]And I might not have all the answers, but I have a lot of team members around me that help me with these answers. um all the way from from people that I work with um um that help me with designing equipment and helping um do making sure that we're applying these materials at the right at the right rates and getting the work done. So I definitely would not be able to do what I'm doing now without all the people that we have around me. But um I really the reason why I wanted to do this is because I wanted to make an impact on something. Botus, I appreciate you being on this with me. And be honest with you, I think I had a lot of fun with this. Did you?

[00:29:28]>> Yes, I did. And I appreciate being on here, too.

[00:29:32]>> Okay. Well, good. You know what? If you get more questions that you think are worthwhile, maybe one of these days we'll get back on here again.

[00:29:41]>> Sounds good.

[00:29:42]>> All right.