La qualità dei concimi. Istituzioni, scienza ed economia alle origini del mercato italiano dei fertilizzanti chimici

This article focuses on the issue of fertilizer quality. It intends to follow three closely interrelated directions, with the aim of investigating the implications connected to the definition, adoption, contestation of the standards on chemical fertilizers, with particular attention to the case of superphosphates: state intervention, involvement of scientists (chemists, agricultural technicians), role of the organizations that represented the interests of the social and economic groups involved (industrialist, farmers). The conclusions follow, which try to suggest some basic interpretative lines on this season, which marked the foundations of the affirmation of one of the main vectors of the modernization of agriculture.