Question: Biochemists examine soil and fertilizer in which professional field?
About the article "Biochemistry", section "Abstract".

Candidate passages:
Soil acidification.
Nitrogen-containing inorganic and organic fertilizers can cause soil acidification when added.
This may lead to decreases in nutrient availability which may be offset by liming. 
Biochemists are scientists trained in biochemistry.
Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms, other biochemists study DNAs, proteins and cell parts.
The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological chemist".
Biochemists also research how certain chemical reactions happen in cells and tissues and observe and record the effects of products as in food additives and medicines.
The main function of a biochemist is to focus on improving the qualities of lives.
Biochemist researchers focus on planning and conducting research experiments, mainly for developing new products, updating existing products and analyzing said products.
It is also the responsibility of a biochemist to present their research findings and create grant proposals to obtain funds for future research.
Role Biochemists study aspects of the immune system, the expressions of genes, isolating, analyzing, and synthesizing different products, mutations that lead to cancers, and manage laboratory teams and monitor laboratory work.
Biochemists also have to have the capabilities of designing and building laboratory equipment and devise new methods of producing correct results for products.
The most common industry role is the development of biochemical products and processes.
Identifying substances' chemical and physical properties in biological systems is of great importance, and can be carried out by doing various types of analysis.
Biochemists must also prepare technical reports after collecting, analyzing and summarizing the information and trends found.
In biochemistry, researchers often break down complicated biological systems into their component parts.
They study the effects of foods, drugs, allergens and other substances on living tissues; they research molecular biology, the study of life at the molecular level and the study of genes and gene expression; and they study chemical reactions in metabolism, growth, reproduction, and heredity, and apply techniques drawn from biotechnology and genetic engineering to help them in their research.
About 75% work in either basic or applied research; those in applied research take basic research and employ it for the benefit of medicine, agriculture, veterinary science, environmental science, and manufacturing.
Each of these fields allows specialization; for example, clinical biochemists can work in hospital laboratories to understand and treat diseases, and industrial biochemists can be involved in analytical research work, such as checking the purity of food and beverages.
Biochemists in the field of agriculture research the interactions between herbicides with plants.
They examine the relationships of compounds, determining their ability to inhibit growth, and evaluate the toxicological effects surrounding life.
Biochemists also prepare pharmaceutical compounds for commercial distribution. 
Organic fertilizers have been known to improve biodiversity (soil life) and long-term productivity of soil, and may prove a large depository for excess carbon dioxide.
Organic nutrients increase the abundance of soil organisms by providing organic matter and micronutrients for organismal relationships such as fungal mycorrhiza, (which aid plants in absorbing nutrients), and can drastically reduce external inputs of pesticides, energy and fertilizer, at the cost of decreased yield. 
The soil on headlands is subject to greater levels of soil compaction because it receives more traffic per unit of area than the field as a whole.
Yields are generally lower than in the field itself due to additional implement traffic and crop damage from implements turning on them as well as compaction.
Soil fertility levels are frequently higher than in the main part of the field due to overlapping applications of fertilizer coupled with reduced yields. 
During the 1960s and 70s many countries in Africa provided subsidized fertilizer to their farmers though state owned enterprises, or "parastatals," which generally enjoyed a monopoly on fertilizer distribution and import within the country.
The fertilizer distributed by these enterprises sold at a universally reduced price, between 20 and 60 percent of the full market cost.
Currency over-valuation also created an additional "implicit" subsidy for imported fertilizer.
These policies were seen as a way to counteract the effects of soil erosion and depletion, and increase crop yields by bringing fertilizer within the reach of subsistence farmers.
This followed the dominant ‘modernization’ model of the period, which aimed to develop production systems in the sector through the promotion of new technologies like fertilizer and improved hybrid seeds.
The subsidy programs often suffered from multiple problems.
Inefficient bureaucracies contributed to delays in fertilizer delivery.
Overstaffing and lack of efficiency incentives increased overall program costs.
In cases of inadequate budgets, fertilizer was rationed, barring farmers from accessing sufficient amounts to apply to their crops.
Finally, below market-level pricing disincentivized and displaced private distributors of fertilizer who no longer found it economically feasible to compete with subsidized fertilizer.
This seriously jeopardized the financial sustainability of the programs.