Grainswest - Winter 2022

Winter 2022 grainswest.com 37 “This study helps us paint a clear picture of what growers are actually doing around fertilizer, and to make the case that they are already highly efficient in that area.” — Jeremy Boychyn The project is an important area of study for the industry because phosphorus is a non-renewable resource and runoff from cropland can transport excess quantities of the nutrient into water bodies. “There is great interest globally in residual phosphorus,” said AAFC research scientist Barbara Cade-Menun. “We want to see if we can reduce the amount of phosphorus we apply without negatively affecting yield. Many people apply both phosphorus and nitrogen without understanding the interaction between them. Depending on our findings, we may be able to develop different fertilizer practices that save money for growers. “If you are going to apply phosphorus at the right time and rate, you need to understand what happens to that phosphorus when it enters the soil,” said Cade-Menun. “Is it available to the plant? What are the factors that affect it and to what extent does phosphorus impact soil biology?” A REVOLUTION IN THE MAKING IBM is at work to improve the Haber-Bosch process, the method now used to convert nitrogen gas found in the air into nitrates. The company believes it can create an eco-friendly process that may substantially lower the cost of fertilizer production. “We have been actively working to sustain agriculture with digitalization in recent years,” said Kommy Weldemariam, chief scientist and global theme leader in the IBM Research Future of Climate division. “We have been using artificial intelligence [AI] to support the decision-making process of farmers, analyzing image, weather and satellite data.” In September 2020, the company ambitiously pledged to use its muscular computational resources to revolutionize fertilizer production within five years. Today, the production of fertilizers is very energy-intensive. “This process is consuming two to three per cent of global energy production on a yearly basis,” said Weldemariam, “For every tonne of fertilizer produced, we consume one tonne of fossil fuel.” It also accounts for approximately three per cent of global carbon emissions, and as a result, it is not a sustainable and scalable production model. In response, IBM is working to identify and develop chemical reactions that will allow for conversion of atmospheric nitrogen into fertilizers in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way. It also aims to develop cleaner, more energy-efficient production processes necessary to provide food for a growing global population. “AI will help us to generate novel materials that will make the nitrogen fixation process more sustainable,” said Weldemariam, “In a few years, a quantum computer might be able to precisely simulate different nitrogen fixation catalytic processes, further augmenting our knowledge and thus improving AI methodologies. The integration of different technologies will create that acceleration factor to change the way we produce fertilizers today.” To power the new process, IBM researchers hope to use renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels, thereby having a direct impact on the cost of fertilizers. “Moreover, the impact of improving the nitrogen fixation process will have important consequences for sustainable life on this planet,” said Weldemariam, “If we farmed with the best techniques available before the creation of the current nitrogen fixation process, the Earth would support [only] about four billion people. Fertilizers helped to sustain our current population of close to eight billion, and that is no small feat.”