Fertiliser in Australia: How to Get More From Every Tonne You Buy

The problem: fertiliser costs more and delivers less

Every Australian farmer knows the feeling. The fertiliser bill arrives and it is bigger than last year, again. Urea hit about $1,000 a tonne in March 2026 after the Strait of Hormuz disruption, peaked near $1,600 a tonne, and had only eased to about $1,400 a tonne by April 2026, according to Grain Central reporting. Whether you search for fertiliser or fertilizer, the story is the same: the biggest input cost on most farms is also the least predictable.

Here is the part that really stings. A large share of the fertiliser you apply never reaches the crop. Phosphorus locks onto iron and aluminium minerals in the soil. Nitrogen leaches, volatilises or sits in forms the plant cannot use fast enough. You pay for 100% of the tonne, but the crop only ever sees a fraction of it.

That is the gap this page is about. Not buying cheaper fertiliser, because you cannot control the market. Getting more out of the fertiliser you have already paid for.

Types of fertiliser, and where the losses happen

Nitrogen fertilisers like urea feed leaf and protein growth, but they are mobile and easily lost to leaching and volatilisation. Phosphorus fertilisers like MAP and DAP drive root development and early vigour, but P is notorious for getting locked up in the soil within weeks of application. Potash supports water regulation and grain fill, and lime and gypsum correct soil chemistry and structure rather than feeding the crop directly.

Organic fertiliser options build soil biology and structure over time, but release nutrients slowly. Each type has its place. The common thread is efficiency: how much of what you spread actually ends up inside the plant.

Where silicon fits: fertiliser efficiency, not replacement

MaxSil is not a replacement for N, P and K. Your crop still needs them. MaxSil is plant available silicon (PAS), a beneficial plant nutrient that works alongside your existing program to help the plant use more of what is already there.

The chemistry is worth understanding. Research published in Scientific Reports shows that silicon competes with phosphorus for binding sites on iron minerals in soil. In plain terms, silicon can help release phosphorus that you paid for years ago and that has been sitting locked up ever since.

Silicon also deposits in leaf and stem tissue, building tougher cell walls. Plants with good silicon status cope better with drought, heat, salinity and disease pressure. And stress is exactly when fertiliser efficiency falls apart, because a stressed plant stops taking up nutrients no matter how much you feed it.

MaxSil Powder supplies 40,000 ppm of soluble silicon with a particle size of 0 to 25 micron, suited to broadacre application and blending. MaxSil Granules supply 10,000 ppm soluble silicon in a 75% compost, 25% MaxSil blend. A typical starting rate for MaxSil Powder is 50 kg/ha, and a MaxSil agronomist confirms the rate for each paddock after a soil test.

What this looks like on a real farm

Tony Donovan manages 14,000 hectares for Midfield Meats in Victoria. As reported in Stock & Land in June 2026, he reported cutting urea use by more than 40% across the operation after bringing MaxSil into the program, while maintaining or increasing production. That is not a pot trial or a brochure claim. It is a commercial grazing operation running the numbers at scale.

Results like that are reported outcomes, not guarantees. But they show the direction: when plants use nitrogen more efficiently, the urea bill can come down without sacrificing yield.

How to start without betting the farm

The standard way to start is a strip trial. Apply MaxSil at 50 kg/ha on part of a paddock, leave a control strip, and measure the difference at harvest. A MaxSil agronomist will help you set it up properly so the comparison is honest.

MaxSil blends with urea, DAP and MAP and goes out through standard spreading gear, so there is no new machinery to buy and no extra pass in most programs.