Alfalfa is an important crop for us: grown on an extimated 74 million acres world-wide.  North America is the highest producer, representing 41% of the world-wide total.  Among US crops, alfalfa is the 3rd in value after corn and soybeans with over $8 billion annually.  However, this doesn't include the value of dairy and other animal products. One of the unique properties of alfala and other legume crops, is that they can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere via nodules on the roots that contain bacteria.  This process is called nitrogen fixation. So why would we want to add suplimental nitrogen and other nutrients to the crop?  Yara agronomists, Jimmy Ridgeway and Markus Bratten,CCA help us understand why. Check out the article Jimmy wrote on alfalfa nutrition.