For decades, modern agriculture has followed a simple logic: increasing inputs to improve yield. Fertilizers have been central to sustaining global food production under this model.
Today, this approach faces growing pressure. Energy costs, geopolitics and logistics disruptions are affecting fertilizer supply, contributing to significant volatility across global markets.
At the same time, regulation is tightening, particularly in the European Union, while rising energy and fertilizer costs continue to pressure farm profitability and nutrient application practices. According to recent BBC reporting, increasing input costs and fertilizer supply disruptions linked to geopolitical instability are intensifying pressure on nutrient efficiency across agricultural systems.
In this context, the challenge extends beyond securing fertilizer supply towards improving how effectively nutrients are utilised, an area where formulation is a key factor.
Studies from the FAO show that less than 50% of applied nitrogen and only around 15% of phosphorus are ultimately taken up by crops. Much of the remaining nutrient content never reaches the plant and may instead:
Leach into water or volatilise into the air
Become immobilised in the soil, such as through phosphorus fixation
Remain unavailable due to soil–plant interactions
From a formulation perspective, these losses reflect limitations in nutrient availability, mobility and uptake under real field conditions. To compensate, growers often increase fertilizer application rates, raising both production costs and environmental impact.
To address these challenges, Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE) has become a critical performance parameter for fertilizer formulations, particularly in nutrient-deficient soils and under reduced fertilizer input systems. Under these conditions, biostimulants that improve nutrient uptake and utilisation can deliver significant agronomic value by helping crops make more effective use of available nutrients. High NUE improves nutrient conversion, reduces losses, and supports more consistent crop performance, while low NUE leads to inefficient input use and higher required application rates.
Reduced fertilizer use is becoming increasingly common in several regions due to both economic and regulatory pressures. In parts of Asia, rising urea costs and supply instability are limiting nitrogen fertilizer use, while in Europe, stricter nitrogen regulations mean that some crops are effectively grown below optimal fertilization levels.
The focus is therefore shifting from nutrient quantity toward nutrient effectiveness
Addressing these NUE challenges requires more than conventional nutrient delivery approaches. Increasingly, formulation strategies are increasingly designed to improve nutrient availability within the soil–plant system under real field conditions.
Biostimulants represent an important approach. Depending on their mode of action, they can:
Support root system development and soil exploration
Enhance nutrient solubilization, particularly for phosphorus
Influence nutrient uptake and nutrient assimilation pathways, including nitrogen
For formulators, this creates new opportunities to develop performance-driven fertilizer solutions that:
Deliver higher nutrient availability per unit applied
Improve consistency across variable agronomic conditions
Support compliance with increasingly strict environmental regulations
Integrate efficiently into existing production processes
As fertilizer markets continue shifting towards efficiency-focused solutions, formulation performance becomes an increasingly important differentiator.
Fertilizers remain essential to agricultural productivity. However, economic, environmental and regulatory pressures are accelerating the shift toward more efficient fertilization systems.
For the fertilizer industry, improved nutrient utilisation is no longer solely an agronomic objective. It is a key factor that defines product performance and differentiation. Solutions that enhance how plants access, absorb, and use nutrients therefore play a growing role in formulation strategies.
In this context, nutrient use efficiency technologies are becoming an integral part of advanced fertilizer formulations. Targeted solutions such as Activance® NUE illustrate how specific components can support nutrient uptake and utilisation while remaining compatible with existing production and application processes.
As the market evolves, the ability to improve performance while reducing input requirements will become increasingly important for next-generation fertilizer products.