Farmers have been busy this spring applying phosphorus fertilizers such as diammonium phosphate (DAP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP) that stimulate root development, help create uniform and earlier crop maturity, strengthen stalks and influence a host of other crop growth factors.
But a lot needs to happen for the essential nutrient to move from raw phosphate to more efficient forms of phosphorus that are available to the roots of growing crops.
On this episode of RealAgriculture Soil School, host Bernard Tobin travels to Florida for a behind-the-scenes look at phosphorous production. Tobin’s first stop is at The Mosaic Company’s Fort Lonesome phosphorous mining location where he meets Aaron Flint, Mosaic’s senior manager for Florida mining field operations, to learn what it takes to mine and process the matrix — that’s the raw form of phosphorous which lies just below the soil surface at the Florida mine site.
Next up, Mosaic senior operations manager James Briscoe shares how the mined phosphorous is piped and pumped up to 50 miles to the company’s New Wales manufacturing facility where it’s processed into fertilizer products destined for farm fields. Tobin also visits Mosaic’s Integrated Operations Centre where advanced technology allows employees to run mining operations from a central location.
The story wraps up at with a look at mining site reclamation. For his final stop, Tobin visits a 1,600-acre former mining site that operated from the 1990s to 2004. It’s now been reclaimed with its natural habitat restored, including 500 acres of wetland. Here, Mosaic crop nutrition lead Tryston Beyrer looks at what happens after the phosphorous has been extracted from the mining site.
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