4 ms·

I'm not convinced by the long term benefit of nitrogen fertiliser synthesis. A significant boom in food production is attributable to it but also long term degr

I'm not convinced by the long term benefit of nitrogen fertiliser synthesis. A significant boom in food production is attributable to it but also long term degradation of agricultural soils, pollution from fertiliser run off and repression of more sustainable agriculture and food distribution options. Perhaps if it had been used to buy time for more ecological and equitable policies it would be more impressive, but it seems only to have advanced the alternative.

shiftless 7y ago
You're right on the money. A major, growing world problem (that noone talks about, because they're too busy focusing on manufactured frauds like 'global warming') is depletion of soil micronutrients. Zinc, selenium, boron depletion are some particularly serious examples. The vast majority of the world's agricultural soil is zinc deficient, including most of US soil. This of course leads to deficiencies in our food also, with many foods in the USA being seriously depleted of nutrition, and the corresponding health effects in the populace. It's a slow-motion downward spiral, and existential crisis. I understand other nutrients like iron are deficient in some of the more serious locales. Fortification of foods with various nutrients has been tried as a stopgap measure, but this problem is only going to worsen as time goes on. The plain fact is, industrial agriculture is a dead end road, as you allude to in your comment about synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Phosphorus (rock phosphate) is an equally major problem, in that it's used way too much, tends to wash out of the soil and cause its own pollution, and is in decreasing world supply also. Likewise, potassium is essential in large amounts for plant fruiting and flowering. There isn't really enough of it out there in good, usable, convenient forms. The only answer is to use manure fertilizer, i.e. organics, and the end of industrial farming. Not going to happen without a major disaster occurring first, because the masses aren't known for their deep thinking, and the people running the show aren't known for anything other than total selfishness, and steering nations purposely into disaster for the sake of their own power or profit. I have no idea how your post got here on a post about ReiserFS, unless it's an HN bug or something.

shiftless 7y ago

You're right on the money. A major, growing world problem (that noone talks about, because they're too busy focusing on manufactured frauds like 'global warming') is depletion of soil micronutrients. Zinc, selenium, boron depletion are some particularly serious examples. The vast majority of the world's agricultural soil is zinc deficient, including most of US soil. This of course leads to deficiencies in our food also, with many foods in the USA being seriously depleted of nutrition, and the corresponding health effects in the populace. It's a slow-motion downward spiral, and existential crisis. I understand other nutrients like iron are deficient in some of the more serious locales. Fortification of foods with various nutrients has been tried as a stopgap measure, but this problem is only going to worsen as time goes on. The plain fact is, industrial agriculture is a dead end road, as you allude to in your comment about synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Phosphorus (rock phosphate) is an equally major problem, in that it's used way too much, tends to wash out of the soil and cause its own pollution, and is in decreasing world supply also. Likewise, potassium is essential in large amounts for plant fruiting and flowering. There isn't really enough of it out there in good, usable, convenient forms. The only answer is to use manure fertilizer, i.e. organics, and the end of industrial farming. Not going to happen without a major disaster occurring first, because the masses aren't known for their deep thinking, and the people running the show aren't known for anything other than total selfishness, and steering nations purposely into disaster for the sake of their own power or profit. I have no idea how your post got here on a post about ReiserFS, unless it's an HN bug or something.