> If it is not efficient it will cost more than it yields, a loss.
I was thinking about less efficient, but still profitable. I presume it's not a binary, and farms aren't operating barely above EROI of 1.
> According to FAO 70% of worlds land surface is not suitable for planting crops.
That's... super surprising to me. I would have expected something closer to 50-40%. Perhaps it hinges on the definition of "suitability"? I'll look into those stats.
> About a third of all fertilizers for farming used in Sweden is natural.
That's also surprising to me. Is this number so large because there are so many ecological farms in Sweden, or natural fertilizer is just so popular?
With more being produced within your country you can legislate higher requirements on production methods. And when food becomes more expensive to buy, the incentive to have high quality production increases.
In the west we no longer have the problem of food shortage, thus we can afford somewhat higher food prices. And of course if you produce more within your country, you can get better salaries.
Why Sweden uses that much natural fertilizer I can't really tell.
But I found something about high prices on synthetic (mineral or others like natural gas) fertilizers. This was something that started happening globally around 2008. Between September 2007 and September 2008 prices increased with 80 percent globally.
If you understand Swedish, 2008
https://www2.jordbruksverket.se/webdav/files/SJV/trycksaker/...
Cattle can transform grass, that we can't eat, to protein that we need. It is actually a good thing, especially if you can't grow anything there.
In Sweden we have something called ecological farming, it is certification, to be approved for ecological farming you can't use mineral fertilizers anywhere in your food production.
Ecological products are usually somewhat more expensive in the store.
Now there are of course lots of farms that is not classified as ecological and they can use mineral fertilizers or natural fertilizers.
About a third of all fertilizers for farming used in Sweden is natural.