Welcome to Agrispex; I’m delighted to officially launch Agrispex today as I begin my 30th year of service to the fertilizer industry. There is no doubt that climate change is a reality as is the fact that the world population will increase by 400 million people within the next five years, placing greater demands on agriculture to produce staple foods while at the same competing with urban populations and industry for limited water resources and arable land. Exciting advances in agricultural production including the integrated use of bio-fertilizers, bio-stimulants and bio-pesticides in fertilizer programs combined with new technologies continue to  enable commercial agriculture to successfully face the challenges of increasing  production costs and fluctuating returns determined by the supply and demand for safe food. South African soil erosion losses are estimated to be 300 million tons per year which combined with the losses of soil nutrients, soil organic matter, reduced soil water holding capacity  and increased soil acidification collectively threaten sustainability. The adoption of conservation agriculture practices are essential for long term maintenance of our soils, biodiversity and natural systems; especially our rivers, estuaries and marine ecosystems. The long term aim of Agrispex is to promote  soil productivity and the conservation of agri-ecosystems through the publication of scientifically based short articles that are easy to read, can be understood by the layman and serve as an on-line technical manual for students, farmers, agricultural advisors and marketers in the future. I trust that you find the current and future articles published useful and interesting and wish you successful visits to Agrispex in the future.