This is a good thing, fertilizer is heavily overused, poisoning waterways. Yes the cost of food may go up as a result but the current farming practices are unsustainable.
‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
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Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#12The climate change activists who want to cut oil and natural gas production should consider the consequences: "The price-increases stem partly from global energy costs, with the average natural-gas price in Europe for the October-December quarter 10 times as much as that for the year of 2020, according to World Bank data. Nitrogen production facilities rely heavily on natural gas to convert chemical raw materials int…
It's sad that you are being downvoted. Nothing that you said was factually incorrect. People just want to squelch you because they don't like these facts and what they imply. Ideology is making things terrible for everybody.
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Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#13The climate change activists who want to cut oil and natural gas production should consider the consequences: "The price-increases stem partly from global energy costs, with the average natural-gas price in Europe for the October-December quarter 10 times as much as that for the year of 2020, according to World Bank data. Nitrogen production facilities rely heavily on natural gas to convert chemical raw materials int…
Yes, because we need cheap fossil fuels not a planet that supports human life. /s
Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#14This is a good thing, fertilizer is heavily overused, poisoning waterways. Yes the cost of food may go up as a result but the current farming practices are unsustainable.
It means poor people will suffer. Overpopulated paces may suffer more. Places experiencing bad crops as well…. It’s not something to celebrate in detachment. [the market, and thus price of food staples, is global]
Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#15The climate change activists who want to cut oil and natural gas production should consider the consequences: "The price-increases stem partly from global energy costs, with the average natural-gas price in Europe for the October-December quarter 10 times as much as that for the year of 2020, according to World Bank data. Nitrogen production facilities rely heavily on natural gas to convert chemical raw materials int…
The climate change activists believe artificial fertilizers are too cheap & consequently lead to destructive practices, so they may be happy about these consequences.
Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#16The climate change activists who want to cut oil and natural gas production should consider the consequences: "The price-increases stem partly from global energy costs, with the average natural-gas price in Europe for the October-December quarter 10 times as much as that for the year of 2020, according to World Bank data. Nitrogen production facilities rely heavily on natural gas to convert chemical raw materials int…
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Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#17There are options besides chemical fertilizers. The nodules on legume root are a symbiotic home for nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Farmers traditionally rotate corn and soybeans to reduce their nitrogen costs. Other plants have deeper roots, which pull up nutrients...
My comment about biological nitrogen fixation (15 days ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29829580
Saw this recently: Black eyed peas could help eliminate need for fertilizer: Popular legume attracts beneficial nitrogen-fixing bacteria - https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2022/01/20/black-eyed-peas-cou...
One of the problems with holistic agriculture is you have to understand more about what plants actually need to grow, and think more to figure out how to work with what you've got. I used to have a local farm that made a great mulch with wood chips and feathers from their turkey operation. Blood meal [1] (nitrogen) and bone meal [2] (calcium, phosphorous) are also good fertilizers.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_meal [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_meal
Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#18The climate change activists who want to cut oil and natural gas production should consider the consequences: "The price-increases stem partly from global energy costs, with the average natural-gas price in Europe for the October-December quarter 10 times as much as that for the year of 2020, according to World Bank data. Nitrogen production facilities rely heavily on natural gas to convert chemical raw materials int…
It's sad that you are being downvoted. Nothing that you said was factually incorrect. People just want to squelch you because they don't like these facts and what they imply. Ideology is making things terrible for everybody.
Or, read the comments and try to understand.
Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#19This is a good thing, fertilizer is heavily overused, poisoning waterways. Yes the cost of food may go up as a result but the current farming practices are unsustainable.
It means poor people will suffer. Overpopulated paces may suffer more. Places experiencing bad crops as well…. It’s not something to celebrate in detachment. [the market, and thus price of food staples, is global]
More production will be moved from grain for cattle to growing food for humans. We can massively scale up our food production if we remove beef from the average diet.
Re: ‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food
#20The climate change activists who want to cut oil and natural gas production should consider the consequences: "The price-increases stem partly from global energy costs, with the average natural-gas price in Europe for the October-December quarter 10 times as much as that for the year of 2020, according to World Bank data. Nitrogen production facilities rely heavily on natural gas to convert chemical raw materials int…
What’s particularly ridiculous is an enormous amount of methane is just burned into the atmosphere as a waste product in oil fields and more is leaked into the atmosphere due to shoddy maintenance. The source material that is making fertilizer so expensive is free for the taking in some places but being wasted. Heat + pressure + atmospheric nitrogen + catalysts + methane is being used to produce ammonia and urea whic…
> The source material that is making fertilizer so expensive is free for the taking in some places but being wasted.
The key detail you neglect to mention is that those oil wells are in the middle of nowhere with no pipeline infrastructure. If the value of the natural gas being leaked was more than the cost of the infrastructure required to bring it to market, companies would have already built it.