Nutrient efficiency
Happy soil, happy crop, happy farmer.
We offer technology matched to your use case, whether that is drilled urea, top dressing before planting or top dressing after planting.
Technology matched to how you already apply
We use advanced inhibitor technology, added in the compounding process at our manufacturing partner Lardmee (LDM). We identify which nutrient loss pathway you are dealing with and pick the right technology for it, so you don’t need to dramatically change how you apply your fertiliser.
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Drilled urea at seeding
Urea drilled with or near the seed dissolves in the seed row and releases ammonia, which can damage germinating seed. Nitrogen placed at seeding also sits in the soil for a long season, where heavy rain on light soils or waterlogging can take some of it.
Main loss pathways
- Seed safety
- Leaching
- Denitrification
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Top dressing before planting
Urea spread on the surface turns to ammonia gas if rain does not wash it in. Nitrogen applied ahead of the crop is in the soil before roots are there to take it up, so wet weather in that gap can move it below the root zone or, in waterlogged soil, turn it into gas.
Main loss pathways
- Volatilisation
- Leaching
- Denitrification
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Top dressing after planting
Urea spread over a growing crop lands on moist soil and stubble, where it can turn to ammonia gas and escape if there is no follow-up rain. In wet seasons, waterlogged patches add denitrification losses.
Main loss pathways
- Volatilisation
- Denitrification
How we work
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Tell us how and when you apply
Drilled at seeding, top dressed before planting or top dressed in-crop, on your soils and in your district.
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We identify the loss pathway
We work out which way nitrogen is most likely to go missing in your use case: to the air, down the profile or around the seed.
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We choose the inhibitor technology
Advanced inhibitor technology, matched to that pathway, is built into the compound during manufacture by our partner Lardmee (LDM).
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You keep your current practice
No need to dramatically change how you apply your fertiliser.
Farmers first
Ray’s family and the family behind LDM have been sugarcane farmers for hundreds of years. We know farm logistics are tough, especially with Australia’s unpredictable weather.
The better the farmer’s quality of life, the better the farm performs. We believe how the fertiliser is treated is just as important as how the crop and the soil are treated, and most importantly, the farmer.
Happy soil, happy crop, happy farmer.
How nutrients go missing
Background on the loss pathways we match our technology to.
- Volatilisation
- Urea on the soil surface is converted to ammonium and then to ammonia gas, which escapes to the air. The loss is greater on warm, moist soils with no follow-up rain, on alkaline soils and under heavy stubble.
- Leaching
- Nitrate and sulphate dissolve in soil water and move down with it. On sandy soils, heavy rain can carry them below the root zone.
- Denitrification
- In waterlogged soil, oxygen runs short and soil bacteria convert nitrate into nitrous oxide and nitrogen gas.
- Immobilisation
- Microbes breaking down stubble take up soil nitrogen for their own growth, holding it temporarily out of the crop’s reach.
- Phosphorus fixation
- Phosphorus reacts with calcium, iron and aluminium in soil, forming compounds plants cannot easily use. Calcareous and high-PBI soils bind more of it.
- Runoff
- Fertiliser still on the surface, and nutrients attached to soil particles, can be carried off in runoff after heavy rain.
More from LCF
Our fertilisers include Urea Plus, which supplies nitrogen together with sulphur, magnesium and trace zinc and boron in each granule, and zinc and manganese sulphates. Read about Lardmee (LDM), our manufacturing partner, and our humate guide.