With growth comes responsibility, In 2020 Paragon launched its first organic fertilizer project. Channeling all organic waste to this project Paragon takes another step toward to improve its ecological foot print with another environment friendly project.
Paragon designed a organic fertilizer through technology which improves the soil texture, holds water longer, increase the bacterial and fungal activity with in the soil, improve the efficiency of nutrient used to produce more robust crops, facilitate slow release of nutrients in response to the dynamic needs of plants, boost the efficiency of water used by the crops, safe guard ecosystems by minimizing leaching and helps the soil to be more fertile for future crop.
In organic farming, a compromise between the use of artificial and organic fertilizers is common, often using inorganic fertilizers supplemented with the application of organics that are readily available such as the return of crop residues or the application of manure.
Cover crops are also grown to enrich soil as a green manure through nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere; as well as phosphorus (through nutrient mobilization) content of soils.
Fertilizer trees aid organic farming by bringing nutrients from the depths of the soil, and by assisting in the regulation of water usage.
Leguminous cover crops or fertilizer trees are also grown to enrich soil as a green manure through nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere; as well as phosphorus (through nutrient mobilization) content of soils.
In general, the nutrients in organic fertilizer are both more diluted and also much less readily available to plants. This may be however desired as a form of slow-release fertilizer containing insoluble nitrogen. By their nature, organic fertilizers increase physical and biological nutrient storage mechanisms in soils, mitigating risks of over-fertilization. Organic fertilizer nutrient content, solubility, and nutrient release rates are typically much lower than mineral (inorganic) fertilizers. A University of North Carolina study found that potential mineralizable nitrogen (PMN) in the soil was 182–285% higher in organic mulched systems than in the synthetics control.
There do exist 'fast-release' organic fertilizers with a risk of fertilizer burn. These include uncomposted animal manures, fish emulsion, blood meal, and urine. Composting converts nitrogen in these sources into more stable forms (with some loss).
Soil biology
Organic fertilizers have been known to improve biodiversity (soil life) and long-term productivity of soil, and may prove a large depository for excess carbon dioxide.
Organic nutrients increase the abundance of soil organisms by providing organic matter and micronutrients for organismal relationships such as fungal mycorrhiza, (which aid plants in absorbing nutrients), and can drastically reduce external inputs of pesticides, energy and fertilizer, at the cost of decreased yield.
Organic fertilizers from composts and other sources can be quite variable from one batch to the next. Without batch testing, amounts of applied nutrient cannot be precisely known. Nevertheless, one or more studies have shown they are at least as effective as chemical fertilizers over longer periods of use.
