The Nitrogen Ticking Time Bomb
March 29, 2016
Story at-a-glance
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New research shows significant buildup of nitrogen
fertilizers far below the soil surface at depths of 10
inches to 3.2 feet
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Excess nitrogen accumulated deep in the soil could continue
to leach into groundwater for 35 years after the fertilizer
use is ceased
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In the last four decades, nitrogen fertilizer efficiency has
decreased by two-thirds while their use per hectare
(approximately 2.5 acres) of land has increased by seven
times
By Dr. Mercola
The application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers to farmland
represents the epitome of unsustainable agriculture. In an
extremely shortsighted view, use of such fertilizer makes sense
because plants need nitrogen to grow.
As such, crops pull nitrogen out of the soil each season,
leaving it depleted after harvest. Traditional agriculture
techniques, such as composting crop waste and applying animal
manure, naturally help to cycle usable nitrogen back into the
soil.
But in the early 1900s, a German chemist developed synthetic
nitrate, which is the form of nitrogen plants use.
Originally, this nitrate was used to make bombs, not
fertilizer, but after World War II, its use shifted to
agriculture. But this "quick fix" comes at a steep price, as the
nitrogen that helps some crops to grow is causing untold amounts
of environmental damage.
Nitrogen Fertilizers Might Pollute Drinking Water for Decades
Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada
analyzed more than 2,000 soil samples from the Mississippi River
Basin. Evidence of significant buildup of nitrogen was found far
below the soil surface at depths of 10 inches to 3.2 feet.1
The finding brings up grave concerns for the environment,
even if nitrogen fertilizers stop being used.
Nandita Basu, Ph.D., a water sustainability and ecohydrology
expert at the University of Waterloo, told Newsweek, "The fact
that nitrogen is being stored in the soil means it can still be
a source of elevated nitrate levels long after fertilizers are
no longer being applied."2
Newsweek continued:
"When fertilizer is applied to farm fields, some gets
taken up by crops, some gets dissolved in water and some
gets converted to nitrogen gas by microorganisms.
The excess that becomes part of organic matter in the
soil is not harmful in and of itself, according to Basu. In
fact, it makes the soil more fertile; but over time, excess
nitrogen is mineralized as nitrate, which then leaches into
water."
Excess nitrogen accumulated deep in the soil could continue
to leach into groundwater for 35 years after the
fertilizer use is ceased.
While agricultural runoff is typically exempt from clean
water laws, the water utility in Des Moines, Iowa, is currently
suing three counties, alleging they polluted the river with
nitrates from agricultural runoff, which have been linked to
cancer and birth defects.
If the lawsuit succeeds, the agriculture industry will have
to make changes to limit runoff.3
Why Water Pollution From Fertilizer May Only Get Worse
Synthetic fertilizers destroy natural nitrogen found in the
soil, which means farmers must use increasing amounts of the
fertilizers each year just to sustain their yields.
It's estimated that in the last four decades, nitrogen
fertilizer efficiency has decreased by two-thirds, while their
use per hectare (approximately 2.5 acres) of land has increased
by seven times.4
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that
removing nitrate from U.S. drinking water costs nearly $5
billion a year,5
which the industrial agriculture industry has been largely
shielded from.
Fertilizer Retailers Fight Back Against Safer Storage Rules
Synthetic fertilizer is dangerous in ways you might not
expect. Ammonium nitrate, for instance, is an explosive
chemical. In 2013, a fire at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas
killed 15 people (including 12 emergency responders) and injured
more than 160 others.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is
attempting to enforce strict chemical management and storage
rules for fertilizer retailers, but the Agricultural Retailers
Association, Fertilizer Institute, American Farm Bureau
Federation and others are fighting back.
They're lobbying lawmakers to block OSHA from applying its
safety standards, which they say "will place a significant time
and cost burden on America's agricultural retailers" and cost up
to $30,000 per facility (which seems a rather small price to pay
to save human lives).6
The OSHA standards would apply to anhydrous ammonia, which is
another type of nitrogen fertilizer that only a few years ago
was a major ingredient in meth.
The white tanks it’s stored in dot farm fields across the
U.S., making them prime targets for anyone wanting to siphon off
their contents. While today most meth-makers aren’t using
anhydrous ammonia, it is still a concern because it is such a
volatile chemical.
Farmers fear that thieves will forget to shut off a valve,
allowing volatile anhydrous ammonia to seep out. As noted by
Modern Farmer:7
"Chemically, it's the same ammonia used in cleaners
around the house, minus the water (thus, it is 'anhydrous').
The vapor is corrosive to human skin and aggressively
seeks out water wherever it can find it, which means that
anhydrous leaks can result in horrific injuries to the eyes,
throat, sinuses, and lungs."
How Nitrogen Fertilizer Is Devastating the Environment: Dead
Zones
As fertilizer runs off of farms in agricultural states like
Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and others, it
enters the Mississippi River, leading to an overabundance of
nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus, in the water.
This, in turn, leads to the development of algal blooms,
which alter the food chain and deplete oxygen, leading to dead
zones. One of the largest dead zones worldwide can be found in
the Gulf of Mexico, beginning at the Mississippi River delta.8
Fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico have been destroyed as a
result. Then there is the nitrous oxide, a gas said to be 300
times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas and
labeled "the world's most significant ozone-depleting
substance."9
According to the non-profit organization GRAIN:10
"The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
estimates that for every 100 kg of nitrogen fertilizer
applied to the soil, one kg ends up in the atmosphere as
nitrous oxide (N2O) …
In 2014, this was equivalent to the average annual
emissions of 72 million cars driven in the U.S. — about a
third of the U.S. fleet of cars and trucks. New research,
however, shows that these alarming numbers are at least
three to five times too low."
Nitrogen Fertilizer Destroys Soil and Promotes Fracking
The use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers is one of the
greatest threats to organic matter in the soil. GRAIN reported:11
"Despite industry propaganda to the contrary, recent
studies demonstrate that chemical fertilizers are
responsible for much of the massive loss of organic matter
that has occurred in the world's soils since the
pre-industrial era.
'In numerous publications spanning more than 100
years and a wide variety of cropping and tillage practices,
we found consistent evidence of an organic carbon decline
for fertilized soils throughout the world,' says University
of Illinois soils scientist Charlie Boast.
Soils around the world have lost, on average, at
least 1 to 2 percentage points of organic matter in the top
30 cm since chemical fertilizers began to be used.
This amounts to some 150,000 to 205,000 million tons
of organic matter, which has resulted in 220,000 to 330,000
million tons of CO2 emitted into the air or 30 percent of
the current excess CO2 in the atmosphere!"
As if this weren’t enough, the U.S. fertilizer industry also
relies heavily on natural gas extracted by hydrofracturing, or
fracking — "the controversial process of extracting gas from
rock formations by bombarding them with water spiked with toxic
chemicals."12
"If Big Ag becomes hooked on cheap fracked gas to
meet its fertilizer needs," Tom Philpott wrote
in Mother Jones, "then the fossil fuel industry will
have gained a powerful ally in its effort to steamroll
regulation and fight back opposition to fracking projects."
13
Healthier Farming Methods Are Catching On
The use of synthetic fertilizers is clearly the next
"nitrogen bomb" waiting to drop. Meanwhile, 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 cover cropping, which
fortunately is on the rise. As regenerative farmer Gabe Brown
said, cover crops provide
"armor" over the soil.
This armor can virtually eliminate the need for irrigation
when done right, but also it's the cover crops that provide the
carbon that becomes that all-important "armor" on the soil
surface. Cover crops also act as insulation, so the soil doesn't
get as hot or cold as it would if bare.
This 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 2012, a Census of Agriculture report found just over 10
million acres of farmland (out of 390 million total) were being
planted with cover crops, but its use is growing. In an annual
survey of farmers taken in 2014, farmers reported planting
double the mean acreage in cover crops reported in 2010.14
Farmers who adopt the technique have reported better soil
texture, less erosion, and increased crop yields.
Less Fertilizer + Cover Crops = A Winning Combo
National Geographic described a research project in Michigan
that has been ongoing for the past two decades. The project is
part of Michigan State University’s Kellogg Biological Station,
near Kalamazoo. Here, fields that are one hectare (approximately
2.5 acres) in size provide side-by-side comparisons of four
different farming methods ranging from conventional to organic.
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:15
"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."
Eliminating Chemical Fertilizers Is Key for Sustainable
Agriculture
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:16
"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 you can help by buying food from
farmers who are using natural methods and soil-regenerative
techniques, such as no-till, cover crops,
composting and livestock integration. This will naturally
help you to eat better too, since typically only real
whole foods are grown this way (while most processed foods are
the product of destructive industrial nitrogen-fertilizer-laden
agriculture).
© Copyright 1997-2016 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.
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