Contents
Foreword............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Perspectives from the Executive Director......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Fundamentals for Systems Change Toward Innovative Fertilizers................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Fundamentals for a Paradigm Shift.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Fertilizers Feed Plants and Plants Feed People................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Fertilizer Use Within Sustainable Planetary Boundaries..................................................................................................................................................................................9
Transformations to Serve Societies..................................................................................................................................................................................................................11
VFRC’s Conceptual Framework........................................................................................................................................................................................................................13
The VFRC Cockpit..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................13
Initial VFRC Focus...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................16
Plant Delivery Strategies....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................17
VFRC’s Scientific Backbone...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................18
Plant Physiology............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Soil-Plant-Microbe Interactions.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Devouring Nutrients...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Diagnostics..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Protocols......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20
The Micronutrient Initiative.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 21
Bending the Spiral of Ecological Degradation Toward Agro-Ecological Resilience................................................................................................................................ 22
Fertilizer Products.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Pinning Down the Role of Micronutrients...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25
Building the VF