Ammonium nitrate fertilizers are very efficient and produce less greenhouse gas emissions than other fertilizers.
Ammonium nitrate is a popular fertilizer since it provides half of the N in the nitrate form and half in the ammonium form. The nitrate form moves readily with soil water to the roots, where it’s immediately available for plant uptake. The ammonium fraction is taken up by roots or gradually converted to nitrate by soil microorganisms. Many vegetable growers prefer an immediately available nitrate source of plant nutrition and use ammonium nitrate. Animal farmers like it for pasture and hay fertilization since it’s less susceptible to volatilization losses than urea-based fertilizers when left on the soil surface.