Great post Thin. As for the alternatives, when engaged in organic agriculture, you certainly have to look into how to manage without nitrogen fertilizers. I refer to three research articles and my own experience in the linked article.
The changes needed include but are not limited to:
Recycling of organic waste from all parts of the food system, including human excrements.
Reducing food waste.
Integration of livestock and crop production.
Considerable use of permanent, non-fertilized grasslands. This doesn’t necessarily mean expansion of grasslands, but rather better use.
Expanded use of biological nitrogen fixation through, among others, the cultivation of leguminous plants. This is not limited to peas and beans for direct human consumption but also clover and alfaalfa for forage, the growing of leguminous plants as cover crops or living mulches and leguminous trees in forest gardens, permaculture, silvopastoral or agroforesty systems.
Adaptation of diets to what works well in an organic production system. Notably an appropriate organic diet is not the same in all parts of the world. The notion that there is one good global diet with largely the same composition is socially, culturally and ecologically inappropriate. On the contrary, they diet should be adapted to what can readily be produced locally.
nice overview.
In case you're interested. I looked back at the 2022 fertlizer shock to see what happened and what we might expect from this one: https://niawag.substack.com/p/the-straight-of-hormuz-shock?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Great post Thin. As for the alternatives, when engaged in organic agriculture, you certainly have to look into how to manage without nitrogen fertilizers. I refer to three research articles and my own experience in the linked article.
The changes needed include but are not limited to:
Recycling of organic waste from all parts of the food system, including human excrements.
Reducing food waste.
Integration of livestock and crop production.
Considerable use of permanent, non-fertilized grasslands. This doesn’t necessarily mean expansion of grasslands, but rather better use.
Expanded use of biological nitrogen fixation through, among others, the cultivation of leguminous plants. This is not limited to peas and beans for direct human consumption but also clover and alfaalfa for forage, the growing of leguminous plants as cover crops or living mulches and leguminous trees in forest gardens, permaculture, silvopastoral or agroforesty systems.
Adaptation of diets to what works well in an organic production system. Notably an appropriate organic diet is not the same in all parts of the world. The notion that there is one good global diet with largely the same composition is socially, culturally and ecologically inappropriate. On the contrary, they diet should be adapted to what can readily be produced locally.
https://gardenearth.substack.com/p/the-nitrogen-challenge-for-organic
wonderful article, thank you Thin!