Farmers in the U.S. and China should use less fertilizer, freeing it up for application where such nutrients can do the most good
Can the world’s existing farmlands provide enough crops to satisfy the hunger of the nine billion people—up from seven billion currently—that demographers predict will be living on the planet by the mid-21st century? Or will more and more forests and other ecosystems have to be cleared to feed all the extra mouths? A new study, published in Nature on August 30, suggests that increasing deforestation could be avoided provided farmers made better use of water and nutrients on land currently under cultivation around the globe. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)
The central premise of the new analysis is that intensifying agriculture where it already exists is the key to preserving a balance between farming and forests. To do that, the researchers from McGill University in Montreal and the University of Minnesota (U.M.) analyzed the so-called yield gap. That’s the difference between what the highest yielding farm or area within a given region can produce—for example, corn—compared with what the average yield is. The difference between this best-practice farm and the average farm is the yield gap.
Standard libtard static view of the world:
“Lessening fertilizer use in the U.S. and China would free up nutrients to be applied to fields in eastern Europe and western Africa with no detriment to American or Chinese people. As it stands, the researchers estimate that some 11 million metric tons of nitrogen fertilizer and five million metric tons of phosphate could be saved annually at present without diminishing current yields. Those savings then could be applied to underachieving areas.”
There is no fixed amount of fertilizer. If the U.S. uses less, producers will make less. If Africa wants more, producers will make more. If I put less fertilizer on my lawn, it won’t save a child in Africa.
You fertilize your lawn? You hate Children, women and the Elderly don’t you!
I hate everybody. I’ve worked building fertilizer spreaders for 40 years. Five and three ton pull type, truck mount, orange grove spreaders, tomato spreaders, golf course spreaders, sugar cane spreaders, broadcast spreaders, computer controlled spreaders, air spreaders that fertilize in the rain, snow, sleet, any weather that happens. Anything that moves on the fertilizers we build I machine it.