Johns2d ago
SecondUniverse (she/her/they)

The "raw materials of fertilizers" can't get out of the Straight of Hormuz, and farmers all over the world are panicking.

It made me think about my field of olive trees. We are very small scale, with 26 trees and no irrigation system. Because the trees were neglected by their previous owner, and also due to an extremely hot and dry summer, we had no crop last year. But the trees are pruned now, and we gave them some organic cow poo fertilizer (we are organic, but our neighbors are all in on chemical warfare).

When we were getting fertilizer, we had the choice between chemical fertilizer (Hormuz) and local cattle poo. Chemical fertilizer is cheaper in the short term but it washes out of the soil. You need to put it on every year. Cow poo is almost twice the price, but the trees only need it every two or three years.

The cow poo feeds and restores the soil. The Hormuz fertilizer degrades the soil and poisons the sea with nitrogen runoff

I am struck by how global crop yields will crash without the Hormuz fertilizer. I'm hardly a farmer, but that sounds like soil health is being neglected or even abused. Are we growing crops in tortured sand and chemicals?

#iran #organic #farming

Apr 3 at 11:57pmWeb
Show threadDeath the Wolf2d ago
@SecondUniverse seems so.
Show threadLenora2d ago
@SecondUniverse sugarcane farmers in Louisiana plant soybeans in their fields on off years. It introduces nitrogen back in the soil
Show threadFelis_Catus_Domesticus2d ago

@SecondUniverse

The Hormuz fertilizer degrades the soil

I find that a bit hard to believe. That petrochem fertilizers may leave the soil unimproved from it's original state after washing away is more plausible.

Show threadHedgewizard 🐈2d ago
@Felis_Catus_Domesticus @SecondUniverse
Ask a metal detectorist, archeologist or field mycologist about the difference. I used to detect on the border between 'regular' farmland and regeneratively managed farmland back in the UK, and the difference was really stark. The conventionally fertilized soil had very little humus (basically just dust) and ate bronze away to nothing. The regenerative stuff was like wedding cake.
And yes, I realize that the fertilizer input is not going to be the only difference here but the bottom line is that ploughing twice a year fucks the soil, and supercharging it with soluble nutrients for a few months is hardly a solution. I'm pretty sure Big Ag figured that out quite quickly and told nobody.
Show threadFelis_Catus_Domesticus2d ago

@Hedgewizard @SecondUniverse

I'm pretty sure Big Ag figured that out quite quickly and told nobody.

For the first 50+ years of the 20th century humanity had other priorities like preventing global starvation. It's the nature of problem solving + human reasoning. Feed people first, worry about long term consequences later.. decades later. kick the can down the road a few times too. Eventually we arrive at balance in things.

Show threadHedgewizard 🐈2d ago
@Felis_Catus_Domesticus @SecondUniverse
Or we don't. Or at least we realize that we need to horribly horribly late.
Show threadFelis_Catus_Domesticus2d ago

@Hedgewizard @SecondUniverse

ploughing twice a year fucks the soil, and supercharging it with soluble nutrients for a few months is hardly a solution.

it was a solution for the 20th century.. until it wasn't..

Show threadHedgewizard 🐈2d ago
@Felis_Catus_Domesticus @SecondUniverse
So true
Show threadViolet Madder2d ago

@Felis_Catus_Domesticus @SecondUniverse

Soil requires decomposing organic matter to work properly-- that's the difference between sandy dirt, and spongey topsoil.

Dumping chemical fertilizers on it does nothing to replace that decomposing humus, and can even directly damage the microbes that should be thriving in good soil.

It takes actual compost abd/or mulch to keep things going properly.

Permaculture is how to do it. Re-use any organic waste that's left over on site, utilize what's nearby.