Phosphate fertiliser 'crisis' threatens world food supply

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Phosphate fertiliser 'crisis' threatens world food supply

Use of essential rock phosphate has soared, but scientists fear it could run out within a few decades

Damian Carrington Environment editor
@dpcarrington
Fri 6 Sep 2019 14.00 BST Last modified on Fri 6 Sep 2019 15.45 BST

The world faces an “imminent crisis” in the supply of phosphate, a critical fertiliser that underpins the world’s food supply, scientists have warned.

Phosphate is an essential mineral for all life on Earth and is added to farmers’ fields in huge quantities. But rock phosphate is a finite resource and the biggest supplies are mined in politically unstable places, posing risks to the many countries that have little or no reserves.

Phosphate use has quadrupled in the last 50 years as the global population has grown and the date when it is estimated to run out gets closer with each new analysis of demand, with some scientists projecting that moment could come as soon as a few decades’ time.

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At current rates of use, a lot of countries are set to run out of their domestic supply in the next generation, including the US, China and India, he said. Morocco and the Moroccan-occupied territory of Western Sahara host by far the largest reserve, with China, Algeria and Syria the next biggest, together representing more than 80% of global rock phosphate.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/06/phosphate-fertiliser-crisis-threatens-world-food-supply

[rurallib]

1. As if things weren't bad enough

[NickB79]

2. Historically, you used livestock to cycle nutrients

Manure was a valuable resource, not a waste material.

Small permaculture holdings using an integrated livestock rotation with perennial agriculture will be necessary to replace the industrial megafarms we currently use.