Gerd Patrick Bienert

In the early 20th century, plant nutrition was dominated by the soil chemistry paradigm of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Micronutrients were largely ignored and poorly understood, partly because existing methods did not allow precise adjustment of micronutrient levels in plant growth media. The importance of most of today's known essential micronutrients, including boron (B), was largely overlooked, even though abnormal crop growth on certain soils could be “rescued” by adding B.

1 The Role of Food In 2022, the FAO reported a concerning regression in achieving the second sustainable development goal when the number of undernourished individuals increased (FAO 2022b). This problem is particularly prevalent in developing countries, while high-income nations are more limited by their dependencies on food supply chains (King et al. 2017).