Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chilean Nitrate
My understanding of Chilean nitrate is that it's sodium nitrate, derived from bat manure
(guano) deposits in Chile. It's allowed under some organic standards in the U.S. and Chile,
but isn't allowed in Canada and most other countries partially because of environmental de-
gradation associated with mining the product and also because of concerns over the leach-
ing of the soluble nitrate into the groundwater.
Some organic proponents endorse it and others don't, but it is OMRI listed. It's rather
expensive, and high in nitrogen (16%) and sodium (26%), so it can negatively impact the
soil food web and waterways. I've never used it and so can't comment much, but I wanted
to include it here because you may hear of it.
