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That is not true about the soil. Areas in Europe have been farmed for hundreds or more years and still productive.
by farmin 4y ago
That is not true about the soil. Areas in Europe have been farmed for hundreds or more years and still productive.
- NateEag 4y agoI believe OP is referring to the impacts of climate change rendering farming unsustainable.
- mod 4y ago"before the soil is over taxed"
- toss1 4y agoI'm thinking he's talking about running out of phosphate [0]. Phosphate is a critical plant nutrient and mining it has been essential in increasing yields in the last century - it's literally sustained the population growth. The known supplies are running low, and it washes out of the soil on an annual basis so needs to be replenished to keep up yields — or we need to find other sustainable sources. The 50 years correlates with other (very) rough estimates of remaining supplies available to use for the current agricultural paradigm. [0] https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/phosphorus-is-vital-for-life-and-were-running-low https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/phosphorus-is-...
- farmin 4y agoThe overarching problem with the statement is soil is so different everywhere. And managed differently everywhere. You can't just make a blanket statement. If I was going to make a blanket statement I would be more concerned with erosion than nutrition because soil is an ecosystem that can be repaired. But if it is gone, then that's a different story.
- toss1 4y agoTrue, and good point — erosion rates also fit the "50 years and it's gone" prediction
- rdl 4y agoWe're also depleting geologic/fossil water like the Ogallala Aquifer far faster than recharge.
- wffurr 4y agoI am not sure where the GP gets the "50 harvests" from, but Europe didn't feed 8 billion people for hundreds of years. The Green Revolution aka widespread use of artificial fertilizer didn't start until the 1950s and 60s.