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fred first's List: Soils

The Fertilizer Institute: Fertilizer Facts and Stats - About Fertilizer

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on 2009-08-02
Getting Our Nitrogen Fix § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM

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on 2009-03-14
- Our ability to pull nitrogen from the air fed a growing human population.
- While a long list of variables drove this trend, from the increased use of pesticides to new varieties of corn, wheat, and rice, one of the most important factors was the introduction of synthetic fertilizer. Plants thrive on nutrients in the soil, and these mass-produced fertilizers led to the doubling of crop yields between 1950 and 1990. We learned how to feed ourselves because we learned how to feed plants.
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- - While a long list of variables drove this trend, from the increased use of pesticides to new varieties of corn, wheat, and rice, one of the most important factors was the introduction of synthetic fertilizer. Plants thrive on nutrients in the soil, and these mass-produced fertilizers led to the doubling of crop yields between 1950 and 1990. We learned how to feed ourselves because we learned how to feed plants.
  - While a long list of variables drove this trend, from the increased use of pesticides to new varieties of corn, wheat, and rice, one of the most important factors was the introduction of synthetic fertilizer. Plants thrive on nutrients in the soil, and these mass-produced fertilizers led to the doubling of crop yields between 1950 and 1990. We learned how to feed ourselves because we learned how to feed plants.
  - We learned how to feed ourselves because we learned how to feed plants.
  - For the first time in human history, the natural nitrogen content of soil (or the availability of nitrogen-rich manure) ceased to be a constraint on crop yields, and from Iowa to India, harvests rose steadily. This so-called Green Revolution, however, hasn’t proved to be particularly green in the modern sense of the word, since the application of synthetic fertilizers can have devastating environmental consequences, such as the dead zones off the Gulf Coast.
  - dead zones off the Gulf Coast. (Excessive amounts of nitrogen destroy the delicate equilibrium of the ocean, as they trigger toxic algal blooms that sap the sea of oxygen.) Furthermore, because the Haber process requires intense pressure and high heat, the production of fertilizer currently consumes more than 1 percent of the world’s energy supply and more than 5 percent of its natural gas. Paradoxically, just as climate change is threatening the global food harvest, our primary means of nourishing those crops only intensifies our use of fossil fuels.
  - the production of fertilizer currently consumes more than 1 percent of the world’s energy supply and more than 5 percent of its natural gas. Paradoxically, just as climate change is threatening the global food harvest, our primary means of nourishing those crops only intensifies our use of fossil fuels.
  - Fortunately, natural selection has already devised the perfect solution: a bacterial enzyme known as nitrogenase, which can fix nitrogen at room temperature using only a collection of metal ions, including the unusual molybdenum ion, and a hefty dose of energy-giving ATP. Found in the common dirt-dwelling microbe called Rhizobium, nitrogenase allows a long list of plants, from peanuts to lentils to clover, to fix nitrogen in the soil. (Interestingly, Rhizobia can’t fix nitrogen independently; they must first establish themselves in the root nodules of these plants — a classic case of symbiosis).
  - nitrogenase
  - For the first time in human history, the natural nitrogen content of soil (or the availability of nitrogen-rich manure) ceased to be a constraint on crop yields, and from Iowa to India, harvests rose steadily. This so-called Green Revolution, however, hasn’t proved to be particularly green in the modern sense of the word, since the application of synthetic fertilizers can have devastating environmental consequences, such as the dead zones off the Gulf Coast.
The Oil Drum | A National Renewable Ammonia Architecture

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ammonia agricultural sustainability on 2008-12-24
Soil Not Oil: Why We Need to Kick Petroleum Out of Our Farms :: By Vandana Shiva

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on 2009-11-02
- Biodiversity offers resilience to recover from climate disasters. After the Orissa supercyclone of 1998, and the tsunami of 2004, Navdanya distributed seeds of saline-resistant rice varieties as "Seeds of Hope" to rejuvenate agriculture in lands that were salinated as a result of flooding from the sea. We are now creating seed banks of drought-resistant, flood-resistant, and saline-resistant seed varieties to respond to such extreme climate events. Climate chaos creates uncertainty. Diversity offers a cushion against both climate extremes and climate uncertainty. We need to move from the myopic obsession with monocultures and centralization to diversity and decentralization.
- After Hurricane Mitch struck Central America in 1998, farmers who practiced biodiverse organic farming found they had suffered less damage than those who practiced chemical agriculture. The ecologically farmed plots had on average more topsoil, greater soil moisture, and less erosion, and the farmers experienced less severe economic losses.

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fred first

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Updated on 2009-10-14
Created on 2009-08-02

Category: Health & Wellness

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fred first's List: Soils

The Fertilizer Institute: Fertilizer Facts and Stats - About Fertilizer

Getting Our Nitrogen Fix § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM

The Oil Drum | A National Renewable Ammonia Architecture

Soil Not Oil: Why We Need to Kick Petroleum Out of Our Farms :: By Vandana Shiva

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