Eliminating Chemical Fertilizers Key For Sustainable Agriculture
The use of chemical fertilizers is a “Bomb” waiting to fall.
We have come to understand that biological farming helps keep the planet healthy by naturally sequestering carbon in the soil and reducing, or eliminating, the need for chemical fertilizers.
This includes such methods as adding BioCharcoal (biochar) and cover cropping, both of which are on the rise.
The charcoal stores carbon, as trees and plant materials extract CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere, and starts to reverse some of the challenges seen with increasing CO2 levels in the environment. When put back into the soil, it keeps the carbon stable, in the form of charcoal, for extended periods, which is a Key environmental benefit.
Cover crops is an “armor” that can eliminate the need for irrigation when done right, but also it is the cover crops that help provide the carbon that becomes that all-important “Armor” on the soil surface. Cover crops also act as insulation, so the soil does not get as hot or cold as it would if bare.
These methods allows microbes to thrive longer. Also, the soil biology heats up the soil, which can extend your overall growing season in colder areas, and which helps prevent soil erosion.
In Y 2012, a Census of Agriculture report found just over 10-M acres of farmland, out of 390-M total, were being planted with cover crops, but its use is growing.
In an annual survey of farmers taken in Y 2014, farmers reported planting 2X the mean acreage in cover crops reported in Y 2010. Farmers who adopt the cover crop technique have reported better soil texture, less erosion, and increased crop yields.
National Geographic described a research project in State of Michigan that has been ongoing for the past 20 years.
The project is part of Michigan State University’s Kellogg Biological Station, near Kalamazoo. Here, fields that are 2.5 acres in size provide side-by-side comparisons of 4 different farming methods ranging from conventional to Qrganic.
Everything that is added to or removed from each field is carefully measured, including rainfall, fertilizer, nitrous oxide, water that leaches into groundwater, and the harvest itself.
According to the article: “Each field planted according to standard plowing and fertilizer recommendations released 610 pounds of nitrogen per acre into Michigan’s shallow groundwater over the past 11 years … The organic fields … which received no commercial fertilizer or manure, lost only a third as much — but those fields also produced 20 percent less grain.
Intriguingly, the ‘low input’ fields, which received small amounts of fertilizer but were also planted with winter cover crops, offered the best of both worlds: Average yields were about as high as those from the conventional fields, but nitrogen leaching was much reduced, almost to the level of the organic fields.
If America’s farmers could cut their nitrogen losses to something close to this level … restored wetlands and revived small streams could clean up the rest … though, many farmers find it hard to change.”
Chemical fertilizer companies claim their products are necessary to feed the world, but research suggests working with nature instead of against it via agroecology or “ecological farming” can produce as much food without the need for chemical fertilizers.
According to GRAIN:1 “The elimination of chemical fertilizers is one of the easiest and most effective places to start. Cutting out chemical fertilizers could reduce annual global greenhouse emissions by as much as 10 percent …
Additionally, the shift from chemical fertilizers to agroecological practices would allow farmers to rebuild organic matter in the world’s soils, and thus capture a possible two- thirds of the current excess CO2 in the atmosphere within 50 years.”
On an individual level consumers can help by buying food from farmers who are using natural methods and soil-regenerative techniques, such as no-till, cover crops, composting, biochar, and livestock integration.
This will naturally help people to eat better too, since typically only real whole Organic foods are grown this way, while most processed foods are the product of destructive industrial nitrogen-fertilizer-laden agriculture.
Eat healthy, Be healthy, Live lively
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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