Abstract
Potassium (K) salts were first mined commercially in Germany in 1861 after Liebig's doctrine of mineral nutrition had demonstrated the need for K as a valuable fertilizer nutrient. Use of potash as a crop fertilizer was slow to develop, however. For example, only about 90000 short tons of K2O yr−1 were being used in US agricultural production by 1900. When the US became involved in World War I and its supply of potash was cut off, the price jumped from $50 to $500 ton−1. This triggered an intensive search for North American potash. In the following decades, the industry was developed in the US, Soviet Union, Canada and several other countries. In 1935 the American Potash Institute was formed to develop the agricultural market for potash. Today the Potash & Phosphate Institute continues with market development programs worldwide.
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Darst, B.C. Development of the potash fertilizer industry. Fertilizer Research 28, 103–107 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048861
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048861