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  • From: <fdnokes@hotmail.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Phosphorus Theft
  • Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 13:03:27 -0800

Thanks for the fabulous post, Keith.
I look forward to mining it for all its worth.
Looks like we humans are going to have to 'get with the program' when it comes to phosphorous.
All we seem to hear about is carbon.

Frances

P.S. I realized my ignorance on this subject, and will be studying your message thoroughly to get more up to speed.
Phosphorous is generally overdone in the Standard American diet. That's one context I'm familiar with phosphorous.
That, and the phosphate issue of lakes, etc.
Like I said, I'm grateful to you for this 'mother load' of information!
Please keep these posts coming!

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Keith Johnson" <keithdj@mindspring.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 12:50 PM
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Phosphorus Theft

fdnokes@hotmail.com wrote:
I've never been a fan of fertilizer, and the permaculture movement is
largely about supporting nature to create good soil, but it does make sense
to acknowledge that the current infrastructure that is responsible for
feeding the millions does rely on phosphorous.
It is not merely the "current infrastructure of agriculture" that
depends on phosphorus but all life on earth, i.e. the original
infrastructure. It is a component of key molecules such as nucleic
acids, phospholipids, and AdenosineTriPhosphate, and, consequently,
plants cannot grow without a reliable supply of this nutrient. All
organisms that eat plants also need phosphorus and we are included in
this. It happens to be a nutrient that can be lost from soils and once
it is gone it must be replaced. That would normally be done by cycling
ANIMAL manures (especially from insect eating birds, and humans) back
into the soil. If your soil doesn't have enough you will need to provide
it. *Get a soil test.* The continents are "leaking" what they should be
conserving and this loss generates vast dead zones in our oceans. Its
for this reason that I have supplemented rock phosphates in my own and
client's gardens. So far it's still relatively cheap despite substantial
price increases.

(snips from http://www.energybulletin.net/49686)

*Mobilizing phosphorus present in the soil *

In many soils phosphorus is naturally present in sufficient amounts,
however, it may be chemically locked up and not available for plants.
Most of industrial agricultural soils in Western Europe and North
America are oversupplied with huge amounts of superphosphate
fertilizers, which results in binding phosphorus up with other elements
so it ends up unused in the soil. In consequence, the concentration of
phosphorus may be as high as 750 ppm, while only 45 ppm is necessary for
growing grains . To determine whether you have a sufficient level of
phosphorus in your soil, the surest way is to make a soil test. If the
amount of phosphorus seems to be okay, but your plants show signs of
phosphorus deficiency (purplish leaves, stunted stems), you may need
help from a specially skilled team of phosphorus extractors -- fungi.
Fungi are decay experts in soils. The enzymes that they secrete allow
them to break up lignin, cellulose, chitin shells of insects and bones
of animals, which are too difficult to digest for bacteria. A single
teaspoon of a healthy soil may contain several meters of fungal hyphae,
invisible to the naked eye. The optimum range for phosphorus uptake by
plants is pH 6.0 -- 7.5, and on either side of this range phosphorus
becomes immobile. A conventional approach would be to adjust pH by
adding sulfur in alkaline soils or lime in acidic soils.

There are many soils around the world that are naturally deficient in
phosphorus, such as soils in the Amazon Basin, on Java or in Australia.
Others have been damaged by inappropriate farming practices -- bare
soils were flushed by rains, which washed away phosphorus, they were
depleted by overharvesting of crops and their natural soil food webs
were destroyed, making it impossible for plants to feed on anything
other than artificial fertilizers. *While soil food webs can be
restored, wherever there is not enough elemental phosphorus present, for
any reason, it must be brought back by the farmer. The other option is
to wait until mountain-generating processes raise the bottom of the sea,
where phosphate fertilizers end up. When the new mountain ranges are
formed, the rain will start to wash phosphorus out of the rocks, making
it available for plants again. But this will take some time -- around
10-15 million years....

*Superphosphate fertilizers are made from chemically treated phosphate
rocks. They are not recommended for use as they are highly concentrated
and reactive. When applied on the field they react with calcium, iron,
magnesium and aluminum, creating within seconds compounds that make
phosphorus unavailable for plants. They may react also with trace
elements, locking them up and causing deficiencies of micronutrients.
Superphosphates are water soluble and they can be easily washed away by
rains before plants have a chance to assimilate them, which later may
cause the eutrophication of lakes and rivers. Not to mention that high
concentrations of phosphorus in fertilizers (above 10) are lethal to
mycorrhizal fungi.

Another material that is rich in phosphorus is guano -- bird or bat
droppings. Bones of fish that are eaten by seabirds contain a lot of
phosphates, and as a result seabird guano also contains a high level of
phosphorus. Guano has accumulated over centuries on small islands on the
Pacific Ocean or on the coast of Chile and Peru, where it was mined in
such large quantities that its deposits are now severely depleted. In
contrary to phosphate rocks, it is a renewable resource, however, only
over a long period. Apart from phosphorus, guano also contains high
levels of nitrogen and calcium. It can be fresh, semi-fossilized or
fossilized, depending on the source.

Phosphates can also be found in mud from ponds, in freshwater mussels,
in fish waste, in algae or in recent volcanic ash. Many plants, such as
comfrey, lupine, sweetclovers, nettle or vetches accumulate phosphorus
and they can be used as green manure. Note, however, that they don't
produce phosphorus in the way that nitrogen is fixed from the air by
legumes. Rather, *they just extract phosphorus from one place and you
can put it somewhere else, leaving the source with less phosphorus*.

Bill Mollison: "Of all the elements of critical importance to plants,
phosphorus is the least commonly found, and sources are rarely available
locally. Of all the phosphate fertilizers used, Europe and North America
consume 75% (and get least return from this input because of overuse,
over-irrigation, and poor soil economy). If we really wanted to reduce
world famine, the redirection of these surplus phosphates to the poor
soils of Africa and India (or any other food-deficient area), would do
it. Forget about miracle plants; we need global ethics for all such
essential resources."

It is possible to calculate a fair share of the remaining phosphate
rocks for each country, depending on the soil's condition and number of
population. And that's exactly what should be done. A global agreement
is necessary for sharing the last phosphate rock reserves in a common
sense way.

Our current industrial agricultural system and the global economy that
supports it are inherently unsustainable. Extracting a limited resource,
such as phosphorus, and sending it to landfills or dumping it in the
ocean doesn't make much sense. Sooner or later reserves of phosphate
rocks will become depleted, then what? There is some back up in the form
of deposits on the continental shelves and on seamounts in the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans, but the cost of mining it can be very high and even
if industrial farmers were able to buy them, what about farmers from
Botswana? What about farmers from Madagascar or India? What will be the
cost of food, when the price of fertilizers goes up? Recycling
phosphorus is just common sense and it seems inevitable, if we wish to
continue living on Earth. It means that the exchange of our entire food
supply and waste management systems is inevitable as well.

Why wait till the industrial food supply system collapses from lack of
phosphate fertilizers or because they are too expensive to buy? Farming
the way nature does provides not only healthy soils and good yields, but
also nutritious food, flavorsome food.

If we manage to close the phosphorus cycle in our countries soon enough,
we will have plenty of phosphate rocks left. We will be able to use them
for restoring degraded lands, for planting trees, and greening our
planet once again.

--

Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
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