We return here to the long
ignored problem of fertilizer management and the phosphorus issue. We are saying here that phosphorous reserves
are plausibly reaching their limits. If
we continue to use them as we have been, then that is true.
My counter to is that we are entering
the age of soil reconstruction through application of biochar methods. In this protocol, one increases soil elemental
carbon content through application of biochar to the soil each season until the
soil content approaches ten percent.
The elemental carbon grabs all
free ions including nutrients such as phosphorous wherever it comes from and
whenever it is released. It retains them
until a root arrives and extracts what it needs. Thus solution losses are ended.
Once a particular soil has optimized
its nutrient content, and we mean virtually any soil, then adding additional
nutrients should be a case of simply tilling the waste back in. The Amazon has reported such soils producing
heavily for sixty years without any fertilizers in tropical conditions.
Present practice is anomalous and
unsustainable and generally toxic somewhere or the other. The practice of biochar promises to make all
soils rich and sweet, while also eliminating ‘patchiness’
World phosphorous use crosses critical threshold
February 14, 2011 by Terry Devitt
(PhysOrg.com) -- Recalculating the global use of phosphorous, a
fertilizer linchpin of modern agriculture, a team of researchers warns that the
world's stocks may soon be in short supply and that overuse in the
industrialized world has become a leading cause of the pollution of lakes,
rivers and streams.
Writing in the Feb. 14 edition of the journal Environmental
Research Letters, Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and
Elena Bennett of McGill University report that the human use of phosphorous, primarily in
the industrialized world, is causing the widespread eutrophication of fresh
surface water. What's more, the minable global stocks of phosphorous are
concentrated in just a few countries and are in decline, posing the risk of
global shortages within the next 20 years.
"There is a finite amount of phosphorous in the world,"
says Carpenter, a UW-Madison professor of limnology and one of the world's
leading authorities on lakes and streams. "This is a material that's
becoming more rare and we need to use it more efficiently."
Phosphorous is an essential element for life. Living organisms,
including humans, have small amounts and the element is crucial for driving the
energetic processes of cells. In agriculture, phosphorous mined from ancient
marine deposits is widely used to boost crop yields. The element
also has other industrial uses.
But excess phosphorous from fertilizer that washes from farm fields
and suburban lawns into lakes and streams is the primary cause of the algae
blooms that throw freshwater ecosystems out of kilter and degrade water quality.
Phosphorous pollution poses a risk to fish and other aquatic life as well
as to the animals and humans who depend on clean fresh water. In some
instances, excess phosphorous sparks blooms of toxic algae, which pose a
direct threat to human and animal life.
"If you have too much phosphorous, you get eutrophication,"
explains Carpenter of the cycle of excessive plant and algae growth that
significantly degrades bodies of fresh water. "Phosphorous stimulates the
growth of algae and weeds near shore and some of the algae can contain
cyanobacteria, which are toxic. You lose fish. You lose water quality for
drinking."
The fertilizer-fueled algae blooms themselves
amplify the problem as the algae die and release accumulated phosphorous back
into the water.
Carpenter and Bennett write in their Environmental Research Letters
report that the "planetary boundary for freshwater eutrophication has been
crossed while potential boundaries for ocean anoxic events and depletion of
phosphate rock reserves loom in the future."
Complicating the problem, says Carpenter, is the fact that excess
phosphorous in the environment is a problem primarily in the industrialized world,
mainly Europe, North America and parts of Asia. In other parts of the world,
notably Africa and Australia North America , where fertilizers
with phosphorous are most commonly applied, are already loaded with the
element.
"Some soils have plenty of phosphorous, and some soils do not and
you need to add phosphorous to grow crops on them," Carpenter notes.
"It's this patchiness that makes the problem tricky."
Bennett and Carpenter argue that agricultural practices to better
conserve phosphate within agricultural ecosystems are necessary to avert the
widespread pollution of surface waters. Phosphorous from parts of the world
where the element is abundant, they say, can be moved to phosphorous deficient
regions of the world by extracting phosphorous from manure, for example, using
manure digesters.
Deposits of phosphate, the form of the element that is mined for
agriculture and other purposes, take many millions of years to form. The
nations with the largest reserves of the element are the United States , China
and Morocco
World Phosphorus Use Crosses Critical Threshold
by Staff Writers
Recalculating the global use of phosphorus, a fertilizer linchpin of modern agriculture, a team of researchers warns that the world's stocks may soon be in short supply and that overuse in the industrialized world has become a leading cause of the pollution of lakes, rivers and streams.
Writing in the Feb. 14 edition of the journal Environmental Research
Letters, Stephen Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Elena
Bennett of McGill University report that the human use of phosphorus, primarily
in the industrialized world, is causing the widespread eutrophication of fresh
surface water. What's more, the minable global stocks of phosphorus are
concentrated in just a few countries and are in decline, posing the risk of
global shortages within the next 20 years.
"There is a finite amount of phosphorus in the world," says
Carpenter, a UW-Madison professor of limnology and one of the world's leading
authorities on lakes and streams. "This is a material that's becoming more
rare and we need to use it more efficiently."
Phosphorus is an essential element for life. Living organisms,
including humans, have small amounts and the element is crucial for driving the
energetic processes of cells. In agriculture, phosphorus mined from ancient
marine deposits is widely used to boost crop yields. The element also has other
industrial uses.
But excess phosphorus from fertilizer that washes from farm
fields and suburban lawns into lakes and streams is the primary cause of the
algae blooms that throw freshwater ecosystems out of kilter and degrade water
quality. Phosphorus pollution poses a risk to fish and other aquatic life as
well as to the animals and humans who depend on clean fresh water. In some
instances, excess phosphorus sparks blooms of toxic algae,
which pose a direct threat to human and animal life.
"If you have too much phosphorus, you get eutrophication,"
explains Carpenter of the cycle of excessive plant and algae growth that
significantly degrades bodies of fresh water. "Phosphorus stimulates the
growth of algae and weeds near shore and some of the algae can contain
cyanobacteria, which are toxic. You lose fish. You lose water quality for
drinking."
The fertilizer-fueled algae blooms themselves amplify the problem as
the algae die and release accumulated phosphorus back into the water.
Carpenter and Bennett write in their Environmental Research
Letters report that the "planetary boundary for freshwater eutrophication
has been crossed while potential boundaries for ocean anoxic events and
depletion of phosphate rock reserves loom in the future."
Complicating the problem, says Carpenter, is the fact that excess
phosphorus in the environment is a problem primarily in the industrialized
world, mainly Europe, North America and parts of Asia. In other parts of the
world, notably Africa and Australia North America , where fertilizers
with phosphorus are most commonly applied, are already loaded with the element.
"Some soils have plenty of phosphorus, and some soils do not and
you need to add phosphorus to grow crops on them," Carpenter notes.
"It's this patchiness that makes the problem tricky."
Bennett and Carpenter argue that agricultural practices
to better conserve phosphate within agricultural ecosystems are necessary to
avert the widespread pollution of surface waters. Phosphorus from parts of the
world where the element is abundant, they say, can be moved to phosphorus
deficient regions of the world by extracting phosphorus from manure, for
example, using manure digesters.
Deposits of phosphate, the form of the element that is mined for
agriculture and other purposes, take many millions of years to form. The
nations with the largest reserves of the element are the United States , China
and Morocco
No comments:
Post a Comment