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Can't believe farmers are wasting that volume of fertiliser. Well, I can, it's not a massive expense compared to containing it. Depending on who owns the near

Can't believe farmers are wasting that volume of fertiliser. Well, I can, it's not a massive expense compared to containing it. Depending on who owns the nearby waterways, the farmers could be incentivised to float recollection furniture which benefits all.

KaiserPro 3y ago
warning: this is a UK based view, farming practices are different in other localities. > Can't believe farmers are wasting that volume of fertiliser. I get what your hinting at (and your further comments add nuance) but its more pernicious than that. Water management on farms is hard, and has got harder. As soil becomes more sterile, it is less absorbent of water. This means that drainage needs to be more effective, as anything outside of the normal rainfall causes flooding. But! fast drainage means runoff. That could mean expensive synthetic nitrogen, cow shit, or actual soil is being swept into the water system. As we've had more uneven rain cycles recently in the UK, and maintaining drains/ditches has got a lot less expensive, the effectiveness of farm drainage has increase significantly. This means flash flooding down stream and also more reliance on pumped water. But, it also means soil degradation, which requires more shit to be put in, which then runs off. There are ways to tackle this, but it requires investment from the academic world to prove it works for the varied UK farm lands, Subsidies changes from UK gov (which they've already royally fucked up) and cost benefit analysis made available to farmers. Water dwell time needs to increase significantly in most of the UK, not only to reduce flooding, but to also improve drought resistance. The side effect is that it reduces fertiliser runoff.
- aitchnyu 3y ago
  Whats a sterile soil and why is it less absorbent?
  - KaiserPro 3y ago
    A sterile soil is something that has been weed-killed to make sure no other plants grow on it. Thats useful for growing sensitive crops like wheat/potatoes etc, as they tend to be dwarfs and can easily be out competed/shaded by other plants. Its also used when changing from one crop to another at the end of a season. This prevents crops being contaminated by previous rotation The downside is that it also kills off the mechanisms that make soil hang together, like fungi, fibrous roots, moss. That process creates a spongy interlinked mesh that separates soil from something like raw clay/sand. think carbon/glass fibre vs raw epoxy. Anyway, those fibres of organic matter decay/get eaten by insects, worms and fungi. This "airates" the soil by leaving voids, making it much less dense. This provides much more surface area (and holes) for water to soak into. does that make sense?
- goda90 3y ago
  A lot of people have been experimenting with soil regenerative practices such as no-till, no-spray, cover crops, and rotational grazing. Not only does it retain more water, but you stop needing to add fertilizer and thus not have runoff anyway.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    There's also studies in replenishing soil microbes. I was involved in prelim discussions on producing a documentary on this that never moved past those initial talks. I was really hoping to work on that to see how effective they were.

KaiserPro 3y ago

warning: this is a UK based view, farming practices are different in other localities. > Can't believe farmers are wasting that volume of fertiliser. I get what your hinting at (and your further comments add nuance) but its more pernicious than that. Water management on farms is hard, and has got harder. As soil becomes more sterile, it is less absorbent of water. This means that drainage needs to be more effective, as anything outside of the normal rainfall causes flooding. But! fast drainage means runoff. That could mean expensive synthetic nitrogen, cow shit, or actual soil is being swept into the water system. As we've had more uneven rain cycles recently in the UK, and maintaining drains/ditches has got a lot less expensive, the effectiveness of farm drainage has increase significantly. This means flash flooding down stream and also more reliance on pumped water. But, it also means soil degradation, which requires more shit to be put in, which then runs off. There are ways to tackle this, but it requires investment from the academic world to prove it works for the varied UK farm lands, Subsidies changes from UK gov (which they've already royally fucked up) and cost benefit analysis made available to farmers. Water dwell time needs to increase significantly in most of the UK, not only to reduce flooding, but to also improve drought resistance. The side effect is that it reduces fertiliser runoff.

aitchnyu 3y ago
Whats a sterile soil and why is it less absorbent?
- KaiserPro 3y ago
  A sterile soil is something that has been weed-killed to make sure no other plants grow on it. Thats useful for growing sensitive crops like wheat/potatoes etc, as they tend to be dwarfs and can easily be out competed/shaded by other plants. Its also used when changing from one crop to another at the end of a season. This prevents crops being contaminated by previous rotation The downside is that it also kills off the mechanisms that make soil hang together, like fungi, fibrous roots, moss. That process creates a spongy interlinked mesh that separates soil from something like raw clay/sand. think carbon/glass fibre vs raw epoxy. Anyway, those fibres of organic matter decay/get eaten by insects, worms and fungi. This "airates" the soil by leaving voids, making it much less dense. This provides much more surface area (and holes) for water to soak into. does that make sense?
goda90 3y ago
A lot of people have been experimenting with soil regenerative practices such as no-till, no-spray, cover crops, and rotational grazing. Not only does it retain more water, but you stop needing to add fertilizer and thus not have runoff anyway.
- dylan604 3y ago
  There's also studies in replenishing soil microbes. I was involved in prelim discussions on producing a documentary on this that never moved past those initial talks. I was really hoping to work on that to see how effective they were.