The main problem associated with chemical fertilizers are soil, water and atmospheric pollution. Such as, High concentration of NO3+ in ground water may cause a blue baby disease in children. Yes, we can compensate up to some extent by verimicompost as it is a best type of organic manure if your soil is healthy. in poor soil or exhaustive crops we can not use it 100% as an alternative to chemical fertilizers as they are slow releasing and our farmers need quick response. It integrated application with chemical fertilizers at the half: half will give more promising results....

I both agree and disagree with Muhammad Adnan

There is the problem of shallow wells being contaminated with excess nitrate which is a cause of blue baby syndrome.

This however is small part of the issues. For instance the use of ammoniated fertilizer is a cause of soil acidification which leads to acid soil infertility syndrome.

Acid soil stimulates a solublization of aluminum manganese and iron which can wreak havoc on agriculture.

The practice can also lead to deterioration of lake river and marine resources by eutrophication. The stimulation of microbes leads to the loss of oxygen which cause the dead zones proliferating throughout our globe.

Our agriculture is mostly limited by water and the water from the soil is a function of soil organic matter.

Ammoniated fertilizers can stimulate a degradation of soil organic matter is largely demonstrated in the scientific literature.

The centralized agriculture system based on chemical inputs is associated with a reduction of soil organic matter by over 50% and up over 90%.

As for the ability to produce competitive yields without the dependency on either chemical fertilizer and pesticides the Farming System Trial at the Rodale Institute has demonstrated that improved yields, quality and environment is proven in a no chemical organic system which can be fully competitive in terms of energy, economics and more than competitive in the environment and health while combatting the over enrichment of greenhouse gases and the issue of water insufficiency in both quality and quantity because they foster improved soil organic matter.

In relation to the ability of vermi compost to substitute for chemical fertilizer this is a distinct opportunity. Unlike starter fertilizer which does not have a complete complement for optimized crop growth the vermi compost has all the macro secondary and micronutrients plus an ability to stimulate plants via growth regulation stimulation from the humic and fluvic acids rich in vermi compost.

Research at the Ohio State University used a complete synthetic peat mix with all the nutrient complement and the inclusion of 10 to 20% vermi compost increased tomato production up to 54% percent over the metro mix based on peat and fertilizer but with vermi compost.

Horticulturalists have long known the stimulating effect of organic matter in relation to issue such as plant vigor and stress response insect and pathogen reactions.

Excellent explanations by Dr. Paul Reed Hepperly. All organic manures are of low analytical value and required in bulk. It's very difficult to fulfill the crop's requirements by applying organics in agriculture based developing countries because of ever-growing and huge population with enough demand for foods.

It's better to think of INM and reduction of chemical fertilizers and thus improvement of soil quality.

Its my experience dont go for synthetic or chemical fertilisers they are so many many research have been done and found that decreasing in micro-nutrients and also macro nutrients in agal products and it also spoils the biodiversity of soil, instead of using chemical fertiliser you can use vermicompost but its to be made from native species of earthworms, if vermicompost produced from invasive species it will effects on local species. Zero cultivation and zero farming is good idea.

using too much of chemical fertilizers in the soil can alter the fertility of the soil by increasing the acid levels in the soil. Yes, you can use vermi compost.

Despite the fact that I agree with a majority of the clever answers I think that the obvious unique value of OM must be temperated in field conditions by the ecological features (light, heat, water, mineral and organic nutrients, other soil physical and chemical properties), by the existence or absence of OM, by the understanding of the on-site organic matter cycle (available?, potential for increasing soil OM content, potential for modifying, accelerating or slowing the OM cycle). But it remains that the best way (lower cost, quickness, easyness, ...) for allowing an increase of the soil OM content is to start with an adapted and well balanced use of mineral fertilizers very oten coupled with a good water use program. The short term response is an increase of OM, partly exported and partly remaining in the soil and to be cleverly managed in such a way that less and less mineral fertilizers are needed to reach the ecological potential of production. History of sustainable agriculture in the world has demonstrated the interest of exploiting this synergy "mineral - organic". Further, if lombricomposting can be proposed at a good value / cost ratio, OK, it is one among the numerous existing techniques...

Depending on the amount of fertilizer consumed, it may cause disturbances of the kidneys, lungs and liver and even cause cancer. This is due to the toxic metals that fertilizers have. Fertilizers remove the nutrients of the soil, damaging the soil and the local environment.

Hi, we can do this to some extent. For example, reducing nitrate in groundwater or reducing toxins. Prevent soil compaction. But not 100% because farmers need a quick response, while compost does it very slowly.

It has been written in a previous reply "Such as, High concentration of NO3+ in ground water may cause a blue baby disease in children.", an assertion that has been falsely propagated during several decades but definitly proven false (diagnosis error attributing to nitrate what in act was due to microbial contamination!). See details after 2002 and several medical congresses. So, pls, stop with propagating "legendary" fake infos. It's true that there is no reason for increasing the amount of uneeded nitrate in the environment (soil, water,...), for increasing the nitrate content of the human organism above a certain level (risk of nitrite or nitrous poisoning compounds) but medicine has proved the necessity of nitrate consumption by healthy humans and the best mineral waters contain nitrates. A more realistic question is linked to the impurity of mineral fertilizers, sometimes an advantage (secondary- or microelements), sometimes a danger (heavy metals, ...) but the fertilizer's legislations take that into account (Cd in P fertilizers, di-urea in urea, ...)! A second question is linked to the un-balanced fertilization, the excessive addition of nutrients (excesses of K vs Mg, ...) resulting in un-balanced crop products.

Soil could supply toxic amounts of elements to human diet. There are three routes by which chemical enter into human body and these are ingestion, respiration and skin absorption.Over use of nitrogenous fertilizer can lead to leaching of excess nitrate into ground water or surface water. Nitrate contaminated water can cause serious toxicity. When gut flora converts nitrate to nitrite, the latter reacts with haemoglobin to form methemoglobin which prevents O2 being carried through out the body. This condition is called Methemoglobinemia.

Nitrate has also been identified as risk factor in development of stomach cancer.

Respiratory problems include: acute inflammation of bronchial passage, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and fibroitic changes . All are caused due to breathing in soil derived dust.

For details please see the below cited article

Effect of soil on human health: an overview

Eur. J Soil Sci. 2018. 69 (1): 159-171

El exceso de nitratos es el principal problema para la salud.

La aplicación de humus de lom@briz favorece las propiedades biológicas del suelo, con la incorporación de muchos microorganismos que actúan sobre la solubilización de nutrientes como el fósforo y el potasio.

Por otro lado, junto con el humus de lombriz se incorpora cocones de donde nacen lombrices y luego favorecen la aireación u oxigenación del suelo con la acción de las lombrices que forman galerías en el suelo.

Yes, it can validly replace chemical fertilizer if the toxicity test is good. But the real problem is its availability.

Overuse of chemical fertilizers, it can indirectly/directly effect on the soil organisms with changing in soil pH and physical properties which accumulate the heavy metals. These accumulated heavy metals in soil which can be transferred to the food chain and caused a potential health risk.

частично это возможно, но полностью нельзя. Нужно смотреть какой срок последействия химических препаратов.

In organic horticulture, only organic fertilizers are used.

Pesticide residues in the soil cause significant damage to human health.

It can only be applied on very small areas. WE don't have enough organic matter to produce the vermicompost sufficient for whole agricultural areas in the world. It can be used supplementary or conditioning material.