[Yeah, Ive heard that over-farming, even organic farming, will ultimately deplete phosphorus from any soil, to the point that to properly reintroduce enough phosphorus to one acre of soil is currently estimated to be around $10,000.] Since 1945, the worlds population has tripled to seven billion, and feeding that population has relied increasingly on artificial fertilisers. Phosphates, among the most important fertilisers, come from an ore that is in limited supply. It is mined, processed and spread on to our fields, whence it is ultimately washed away into the ocean... ...The price of phosphate ores has risen fivefold over the past decade as demand, particularly from the developing world, has grown steadily. Meanwhile, the cost of fertiliser production has also risen as the richest, cheapest phosphate seams have already been mined. The important point is that it is the rising price of phosphates that has made it worthwhile to start recycling the stuff. So should we welcome the higher price? Well, it depends who you are. In general, the lower your income, the more of it you spend on food and therefore the more sensitive you are to the higher food bills that might come with more expensive fertilisers. ...As Jeremy Grantham points out, many North African countries depend on food imports, and rising food prices contributed to the discontent behind the 2011 Arab Spring. One of those countries is Morocco, which by a freak of geography controls about three-quarters of the worlds remaining good-quality phosphate reserves.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 19:46:17 +0000
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