<Presidential Energy Debate Fact Check #1: Is Offshore Drilling the Answer? The Oil Drum DrumBeat: October 10, 2008>

87 comments on Peak phosphorus: Quoted reserves vs. production history

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Ignorant on October 9, 2008 - 11:23am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I know that calcium in the average (Eastern) North Amercan farm soil has been reduced to about 25% and iron to about (?)10-15%(?) of what it was in pre-colonial days (or so the educated scientific guess says).
Can it be replaced (over time) just by going organic, or will people in the future need to haul sea-shells and fishbones inland in order to just survive?

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LarryCO on October 9, 2008 - 11:31am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Seaweed is a good amendment. Harvest it, put it on trains, send it to the farms.

I don't know about calcium, but I figure I feed my chickens oyster shells and then compost the egg shells, so I'm most likely IMPROVING the soil quality on my farm.

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pondlife on October 10, 2008 - 1:07am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

You are welcome to my calcium phosphate when I'm finished with it

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ColdFusion on October 11, 2008 - 7:12pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

sadly I feel most people would not like the idea of grinding up your bones for fertilizer. How ever my father does want to be dug into his own compost heap. No idea how I'll get that past the local council !!
I'll get him to put it in his will for a posthumous ( pro humus ) giggle !!

Seriously though I think we need a serious effort in place to stop the flushing of NPK down the loo. Be that home composting or centralized re-cycling. But who here will want to deal with their own "waste" ?

Could be combined with methane production to solve a cooking fuel issue.

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ColdFusion on October 11, 2008 - 7:23pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Just had a thought. When it comes to recycling humans and human waste, we could have a massive problem with persistent pharmaceuticals which could build up in the consumers of the produce. Diclofenac is but one example of a persistent drug that kills vultures.

It seems that if we were to recycle people and human waste that we would become victims of the chemical industry.

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thomas deplume on October 9, 2008 - 12:58pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Zebra mussels to the rescue?

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puhkawn on October 9, 2008 - 2:57pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Farmers that tend to their soil apply lime, which is a compound of calcium or calcium and magnesium. (Typically finely ground limestone.) They usually apply lime to adjust the PH of soil which in turn makes calcium as well as N, P, and K more available to plants. You can get garden size bags of lime at most any garden supply store/nursery. Lime stone isn't exactly "organic" but it is about as natural as you can get. First you need to test the PH of your soil as PH varies widely as well take into consideration what kinds of crops you are going to grow. A surprising number of crops like a slightly acid soil. Go to your local County Agent's office to get all the information you need, free.

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87 comments on Peak phosphorus: Quoted reserves vs. production history

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