News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The U.S. corn belt has lost a third of its topsoil. Parent comment

Re:The U.S. corn belt has lost a third of its topsoil by CountSessine on Thursday April 15, 2021 @05:04PM (#26826092)
I'm not worried about the water, I'm worried about the phosphorus! Almost all of the fertilizer in the world is made from phosphorus that comes from Morocco and Western Sahara, and it appears that we're depleting it very quickly.

http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/p...

(actually, I'm worried about the water and the soil too)

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The U.S. corn belt has lost a third of its topsoil by tastyfreeze on Thursday April 15, 2021 @05:39PM (#26826457)
All the minerals needed for plant life are available in the sand, silt, and clay in soil. Soil life is the key to breaking down aggregate minerals into plant usable nutrients. In healthy soil fertilizing is not necessary.

It is hard to talk about soil life without sounding like a kook to most people. But, our practices of using synthetic fertilizers and spraying fungicides, herbicides, and pesticides are literally killing the soil's capacity to feed plants.

[ Parent | on HN ]