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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Shortage of Fertilizer Could Impact Food Security

You can add a coming phosphorus shortage to your worry list.
By Katherine Bourzac

This week, while reporting a story on a new reaction that breaks nitrogen triple bonds, I talked to MIT chemist Christopher Cummins about fertilizer. It's something we take for granted, but ammonia fertilizer feeds the world, and making it requires large amounts of energy and fossil fuels. In order to save on energy, chemists are working on enzymes that mimic bacterial enzymes to "fix" nitrogen into bioaccessible ammonia at low temperatures.

But nitrogen isn't the only fertilizer we need to worry about, says Cummins. Modern agriculture is also reliant on phosphorus sourced from rocks and that is a non-renewable resource, like oil. According to a review published earlier this year in the journal Global Environmental Change, current global phosphorus reserves may be utterly depleted in 50-100 years, and production will peak in 2030. These resources are concentrated in Morocco, Chile, and the US, and, says Cummins, "many of the readily accessible mines have been used up."

"Phosphorus is the least abundant of all the biogenic compounds," he adds. "If you run out of one of those elements, you can't make life." With the global population expected to reach ten billion in 2050, this is likely to be a major problem unless these resources are managed better, starting soon.

Comments

  • Using resources more wisley
    Excellent topic that all of us should be concerned about.

    I presume that "energy and fossil fuels" means petroleum, it's even more important to recycle and increase ways to use petroleum more wisely .... serve in your tank, or on your plate

    We have choices - develop alternatives, use what's left more prudently or go organic...
    Rate this comment: 12345

    mkogrady
    12/17/2009
    Posts:244
    Avg Rating:
    3/5
  • Ocean fetilisation
    There is loads of nitrogen in the oceans just waiting to be unlocked with the right combination of additional nutrients. So we don't have to be so dependent on synthetic ammonia.
    Rate this comment: 12345

    DJTal
    12/17/2009
    Posts:147
    Avg Rating:
    3/5
  • Elephant in the living room
    "With the global population expected to reach ten billion in 2050, this is likely to be a major problem..."

    So is everything else. Spot the elephant? How about dealing with the elephant?
    Rate this comment: 12345

    jwtm
    12/19/2009
    Posts:1
    Avg Rating:
    5/5

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