The Four Rs: Teaching about Crop Fertilization
It turns out that the bedtime story of Goldilocks and the three bears has a lot to do with the agricultural industry. This relationship goes back to the four Rs, a memory tool used in teaching about crop fertilization.
(You can view this agricultural display on our custom products page.)
Fertilizing the “Right” Way
As any farmer will tell you, applying fertilizer to a crop is not something you do willy-nilly. Although fertilizing a field may seem somewhat arbitrary to the un-farmed, it actually requires precision, care, and specificity. In some circles, farmers use a memory tool for the purpose of remembering and teaching about crop fertilization. This memory tool is known as the “4Rs of nutrient stewardship.”
It’s a list of four “rights.” The simple outline reminds farmers to make sure they pay attention to having the right source, time, rate, and place when they’re fertilizing crops. Just like the bears’ porridge needed to be in the right condition in order for Goldilocks to deem it “just right,” farmers have to analyze all of these requirements before they can begin the task of fertilizing. The display we put together about these crop fertilization rules for AgroLiquid’s IQhub discusses all four elements.
Teaching the 4 Rs
To do this, we created a cylindrical display with four different sections. In each section, the display provides further explanation and illustration of the four rules. Every side of the display focuses on a different feature of the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship: right source, right rate, right time, and right place.
The four different segments have images and three-dimensional elements unique to the specific principle in that segment. This includes pictures and replicas of actual tools used in the fertilization process. The fertilization principles display explains the concepts behind each R principle through information provided by the TV monitors and text-based signs. Through all this engaging stuff, the display takes a big step in teaching about crop fertilization.
