Down with Foreign Fertilizer!?

Like all of you, I havent read the Republican platform and wont read the Democratic one, either, but some journalists DO, and one newspaper helpfully listed what they consider the 10 oddest items in the Republican Platform. And darned if number 4 isnt right on topic for us gardeners:

End our dependence on foreign fertilizer?Our dependence on foreign imports of fertilizer could threatenour food supply, and we support the development ofdomestic production of fertilizer.

Phosphate Mine

The story went on to offer a link to, this analysis of Americas potential fertilizer woes, which is titled Forget Oil, Worry about Phosphorus. Seems that the worlds agriculture depends on a mineral that is declining in production and is controlled by a cartel of companies.

Indeed there are lots of alarming reports about peak phosphorus but at least we buy it mainly from domestic sources, and the U.S. actually exports about half its phosphorus production for now. Our domestic reserves are expected to be gone in 15 to 30 years, after which well have to get it from places like Morocco and China, which together have 60 percent of the worlds reserves.

But wait; the problem isnt just phosphorus; the other major nutrients are also of concern. The U.S. imports more than half its nitrogen (mainly from Trinidad, Tobago, Canada and Russia) and 86% of its potassium (mainly from Canada and Russia). And according to Grist, the real problem IS nitrogen, for which were increasingly dependent on other nations.

So, finding more domestic sources of these nutrients is a priority, but another tack is to use less of them andwaste less of them, especially the ones that run off into our waterways and pollute them.

Stepping back, experts outside the fertilizer industry point to the generally unsustainable nature of our industrial food production system that relies so heavily on these diminishing supplies of fossil fuel and mined fertilizer. Well, yeah.

Sadly, it didnt take much googling for me to realize this is all far too complex for me, a psych major turned gardenblogger, but I was still curious about the politics of this. Reading the response of the Fertilizer Institute raised more questions than answers because they say domestic production is on the upswing; not to worry.

But a popular political blog offers some context for inclusion of fertilizer in a major party platform, and it makes sense in that crazy way that things make sense only in politics.

So whats really behind this? Nitrogen based fertilizer is made from ammonia which is made from natural gas. From the late 90s until a couple of years ago the rising price of natural gas made it cheaper to import nitrogen fertilizer from places with little or no environmental regulation than to produce it domestically and much of the US based production shut down. Trinidad is the biggest producer of imported fertilizer and has very little environmental regulation. Producing fertilizer is a very dirty and polluting enterprise. Since natural gas prices have fallen in the US, some shuttered domestic plants are slated for reactivation and the owners dont want the EPA regulating their dirty business. One of the big fertilizer producers is Koch Fertilizer, which also owns production capacity in Trinidad.

But readers, what do YOU think? Anyone want to speak up for good old compost?

Photo credit: Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Via: Down with Foreign Fertilizer!?