3 ms·

Considering how much is overused and washes into rivers and oceans and creates dead zones. This is a really good thing. We over produce as is.

throwaway1777 5y ago
What an odd rationalization. This is NOT a good thing. Aside from empty shelves, prices will rise from lower production if nothing else and that can lead to all kinds of bad consequences from malnutrition to social unrest.
- drbojingle 5y ago
  He's not wrong though. What he's describing is a silver lining. Optimizing fertilizer application to reduce waste is going to be part of the response to addressing climate change.
vorpalhex 5y ago
Food prices going up hurts the poor the most, especially base commodities like corn and soy.
picsao 5y ago
The last cut in american over production resulted in the Arab-spring revolution wave and the Syrian Civil War.
rmason 5y ago
Most of the nitrogen in our rivers and lakes causing problems isn't from farmers use of fertilizer. Farmers are in a low margin business and if they use too much nitrogen they make less money. A lot of it used to be caused by manure runoff from large animal operations. But twenty or more years ago laws were changed and regulators focused their attention on correcting this problem. There are always exceptions but mostly this problem is fixed. Farmers have to file plans on which lands gets manure, complete with soil tests showing they're not overdoing it. I helped farmers in the late nineties fill out these reports in my former career as an agronomist. Back then some larger farmers were either moving to composting or using the manure to power plants creating electricity. So where is it coming from now? Lawn fertilizer! People over fertilizing their lawns.
- frenchyatwork 5y ago
  So humanity's stupidest form of cultivation strikes again.
- jakear 5y ago
  You seem to know what you’re talking about so I have a question. Is it possible that leaving fallen leaves on a lawn for a period of time can help to fertilize that lawn? I experimented with that on my lawn this past fall and while it’s too early to make any conclusions I wonder if there’s any prior art here?
  - xyzzyz 5y ago
    Composted leaves will fertilize it somewhat, but if you just let leaves fall on your lawn, it tends to kill the lawn. I recommend raking into pile, and letting it sit for a year or so (fallen brown leaves compost rather slowly), then you can spread resulting compost. But, unless you have lots of trees, the amount of nitrogen in fallen leaves will be minimal (trees don’t like parting with valuable nutrients either).
  - aesch 5y ago
    Not an expert, just a gardener. Short answer: just letting leaves fall on your lawn for a period of time is unlikely to provide fertilization, in fact it may hurt your lawn, because the leaves will not break down fast enough and will instead cut off your lawn's access to air and sunlight. Long answer: You need to break down the organic matter in the leaves through composting. To speed up composting you want the right proportions of both brown (carbon - your leaves) and green (nitrogen) matter, the right moisture levels, and access to oxygen, usually in a large pile to create the perfect environment for the microorganisms that break down the matter. Your leaves are a great base for your compost, I always use mine, but you will probably need to put a little sweat equity into it, as well as kitchen scraps, lawn cuttings, etc. to get the right proportion of greens.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  > Lawn fertilizer! People over fertilizing their lawns. Lawn fertilizer!? I didn't even know that was a thing! Why would you fertilize a lawn. Won't that just make it grow faster and therefore require you to mow it more often?

throwaway1777 5y ago

What an odd rationalization. This is NOT a good thing. Aside from empty shelves, prices will rise from lower production if nothing else and that can lead to all kinds of bad consequences from malnutrition to social unrest.

drbojingle 5y ago
He's not wrong though. What he's describing is a silver lining. Optimizing fertilizer application to reduce waste is going to be part of the response to addressing climate change.

vorpalhex 5y ago

Food prices going up hurts the poor the most, especially base commodities like corn and soy.

picsao 5y ago

The last cut in american over production resulted in the Arab-spring revolution wave and the Syrian Civil War.

rmason 5y ago

Most of the nitrogen in our rivers and lakes causing problems isn't from farmers use of fertilizer. Farmers are in a low margin business and if they use too much nitrogen they make less money. A lot of it used to be caused by manure runoff from large animal operations. But twenty or more years ago laws were changed and regulators focused their attention on correcting this problem. There are always exceptions but mostly this problem is fixed. Farmers have to file plans on which lands gets manure, complete with soil tests showing they're not overdoing it. I helped farmers in the late nineties fill out these reports in my former career as an agronomist. Back then some larger farmers were either moving to composting or using the manure to power plants creating electricity. So where is it coming from now? Lawn fertilizer! People over fertilizing their lawns.

frenchyatwork 5y ago
So humanity's stupidest form of cultivation strikes again.
jakear 5y ago
You seem to know what you’re talking about so I have a question. Is it possible that leaving fallen leaves on a lawn for a period of time can help to fertilize that lawn? I experimented with that on my lawn this past fall and while it’s too early to make any conclusions I wonder if there’s any prior art here?
- xyzzyz 5y ago
  Composted leaves will fertilize it somewhat, but if you just let leaves fall on your lawn, it tends to kill the lawn. I recommend raking into pile, and letting it sit for a year or so (fallen brown leaves compost rather slowly), then you can spread resulting compost. But, unless you have lots of trees, the amount of nitrogen in fallen leaves will be minimal (trees don’t like parting with valuable nutrients either).
- aesch 5y ago
  Not an expert, just a gardener. Short answer: just letting leaves fall on your lawn for a period of time is unlikely to provide fertilization, in fact it may hurt your lawn, because the leaves will not break down fast enough and will instead cut off your lawn's access to air and sunlight. Long answer: You need to break down the organic matter in the leaves through composting. To speed up composting you want the right proportions of both brown (carbon - your leaves) and green (nitrogen) matter, the right moisture levels, and access to oxygen, usually in a large pile to create the perfect environment for the microorganisms that break down the matter. Your leaves are a great base for your compost, I always use mine, but you will probably need to put a little sweat equity into it, as well as kitchen scraps, lawn cuttings, etc. to get the right proportion of greens.
nicoburns 5y ago
> Lawn fertilizer! People over fertilizing their lawns. Lawn fertilizer!? I didn't even know that was a thing! Why would you fertilize a lawn. Won't that just make it grow faster and therefore require you to mow it more often?