Mineral fertilizers do not feed the world..

Mineral fertilizers do not feed the world..

Nobody denies the role of #inorganic fertilizer but promoting them as the solution for feeding the world is also promoting misinformation.

Excessive use of nitrogen in agriculture has resulted in dead zone in many parts of the world water bodies. The “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, caused by too much N and P entering from the Mississippi River. Similarly at the mouths of several of the world’s biggest rivers which pass through heavily farmed land. Read here https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/priority-landscapes/gulf-of-mexico/stories-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone/

There are?9 planetary boundaries which, if crossed, could help to destabilize the current Earth System. The?planetary boundary for Biochemical Flows has already been crossed by N and P flows. Read here https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries/the-nine-planetary-boundaries.html

The same “global review” cited by many that N application does not affect microbiology reads in the conclusion section : “However, long-term repeated mineral N applications can alter microbial community composition in many cases even when pH changes were small. These shifts in microbial community composition cannot be fully captured

It also reads “In trials of less than 10 years duration, microbial biomass was decreased by fertilization as well” and “How specific microbial groups respond to repeated applications of mineral fertilizers varies and seems to depend on environmental and crop management related factors. Based on the data available it is difficult to understand the interactions among environmental factors, fertilizer rates and types, and specific groups of soil microorganisms”

These repeated posts about nitrate and mineral N, poses a good question about fertilizers companies goals (see Marschner page 232). Everybody works in agriculture understands that more soluble nitrogen drives more pest and disease, and more chemically more degraded soils.. but it translates to more sales for agrochemicals introduced every couple of years as "the solution"

Mineral NPK and mainstream education, promotion and extension sustain only NPK for yield and quality have increased crop yield but at the cost of key micronutrients, resulting in a hidden hunger in developed world and poverty and dependence in developing world..

The text above was mostly from my comment to a post by a leader of a global fertilizer company and I thought it was worth keeping..