4Rs Make Bentonite Fertilizer an Environmental Winner
Keg River helps provide sustainable solutions for a growing world
We continue to live in an era of rising expectations for agriculture to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
As a Keg River customer or partner, you can rest assured the bentonite sulphur products you purchase or align with from our company are an excellent fit to meet this demand.
Your partner in sustainability
Keg River bentonite sulfur is an important tool to help agriculture operate and produce food efficiently with a minimal footprint.
To put it simply, Keg River bentonite sulfur is an environmental winner.
It provides an important option in your sustainability toolbox. It not only helps you farm more efficiently and profitably, but also helps you meet today’s needs and align with a broad range of sustainability programs, including a growing number of programs developed by our partners.
Fits the ‘4Rs’ framework
A big reason for our Keg River environmental and sustainability advantage is that our bentonite sulfur products are perfect for nutrient management plans based on the “4Rs” – the right source, the right rate, the right time and the right place.
The 4Rs approach is considered by sustainability experts and agronomists alike as an effective framework for sound environmental and sustainability practices. Here are examples of some of the main issues it advises to consider in creating a 4Rs nutrient stewardship plan:
The right source
Farms are increasingly expected to select fertilizer sources that have a reduced environmental impact. Keg River bentonite sulfur is an excellent choice to help meet sulfur needs because it provides a sustainably sourced, very-high analysis, efficiently used, slow-release form of sulfur (gradually and naturally oxidized by soil microorganisms into sulfate) that is targeted and beneficial to both soil and plants – ultimately improving soil fertility, crop yield, and quality.
The right rate.
Selecting the right rate is critical to ensure efficiency and get the best results. Keg River bentonite sulfur products are precision formulated to give you a range of options to find the right fit for every farm.
Our products fit well with nutrient management strategies based on key factors such as soil testing and assessments of in-field variability. While a targeted approach to application rate can be effective, a uniform rate is often used with sulfur given difficulties in assessing soil sulfur levels.
The right time
The saying is true that timing is everything – including for the 4Rs approach.
The unique slow-release mechanism of bentonite sulfur provides consistent and critical biologically mediated S04 Sulfur for season-long sulfur in support of optimal crop growth. The benefits of fall application of bentonite sulfur have come into sharp focus in recent years, but sulfur bentonite also works well in winter (even on snow), spring or post-seeding broadcast – it is very versatile.
The right place
Ensuring fertilizer design and application are targeted to the right place is also essential. This involves considering root-soil dynamics and movement, along with secondary factors that impact targeting.
Keg River products are a proven solution to fit a wide range of crop and soil conditions – the excellent degradability and slow-release nature of our bentonite sulfur products provide nutrient in predicable ways while minimizing unintended effects (e.g. leaching losses)
We explored this advantage in recent blog on How Microbes Convert Elemental Sulfur to Sulfate in the Soil. The bottom line is that when farms use a product with a high-quality bentonite clay, the result of the disintegration process will be elemental sulfur with a very small particle size distribution. The literature is very strong in saying that the smaller the particle sizes, the better the conversion to sulfate and the better the resulting crop benefits.
A ‘win-win-win’ that includes profitability
Utilizing Keg River bentonite sulfur within an integrated 4R plan is a surefire way to make farming operations not only more environmentally friendly and sustainable, but also more profitable.
“At the end of the day, sustainability is not just about environment and efficiency, it’s also about the economic success of farmers and their industry,” says Daryl Schuster, President of Keg River.
“We are proud to help provide solutions that not only help agriculture to meet sustainability demands but as part of this also help farmers and others across the value chain to have greater success.”
Supporting a bright future
Keg River bentonite is produced through a process that involves safely securing this critical ingredient in a manner removed from industrial processes that result in atmospheric emissions.
It’s developed right and – with farmer and partner support – utilized right, to be a huge net positive for sustainable agriculture.
This is the main reason why the high-quality bentonite elemental sulfur market is poised for continued growth: driven by its essential role in sustainable agriculture.
