tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/fertiliser-2795/articlesFertiliser – The Conversation2024-02-19T17:10:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2228092024-02-19T17:10:11Z2024-02-19T17:10:11ZPotassium in our soil is running low, threatening global food security – new study proposes a way out<p>Soils around the world are running low on potassium, a key nutrient needed for plants to grow. This ultimately means we may not be able to grow enough food for everyone. </p>
<p>But it’s not too late: we have just <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-00929-8.epdf?sharing_token=qhRQ1iepxmbV7dxrbcIgGtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NCdnu7x8IwXr3USOl-E8-A5H2Nqj_gLRuSjtW7hxPh_hd72uJ4hiStFDWxhn_AyhCkX0KybktR6HIOHHgWMkTCyIwR-8GuUGO79NJZw-1ezaLJ7AzLGlkAWaP0TusHPhw%3D">published research</a> identifying six things we must do to safeguard potassium supplies and food production. </p>
<p>Potassium is required for plant growth alongside nitrogen and phosphorus (known as kalium in latin, potassium is the K in NPK fertilisers). While <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.12.016">nitrogen</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17834.08645">phosphorus</a> sustainability issues are widely known, potassium remains in the shadows. Yet <a href="https://doi.org/10.5772/53185">around 20%</a> of agricultural soils worldwide grapple with potassium deficiency, especially in east Asia, south-east Asia, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.</p>
<p>Globally, more potassium is being extracted in harvests – small quantities of potassium are essential for every crop we grow – than are being added to fields in fertilisers. This unsustainable phenomenon is known as soil-nutrient mining. </p>
<p>For instance around <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242342/">75% of China’s rice paddy soils</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0520-1">66% of southern Australia’s wheat belt</a> don’t have enough potassium. In India, a lack of potassium is already causing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59197-7">smaller crop yields</a>. </p>
<p>Although it may seem straightforward to address the issue by adding more potassium to the soil, the reality is far more complex.</p>
<h2>Supplies are concentrated in a few countries</h2>
<p>Potassium is generally extracted from potash, a crystal-like mineral found in layers of underground rocks. The world’s reserves are concentrated in a handful of countries which means most other countries rely on imports, making their food systems vulnerable to supply disruptions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Small reddish lump of potash." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576560/original/file-20240219-17940-h8efx6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Potash collected from a mine in Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/small-sample-potash-collected-canadian-mine-1871645284">Wirestock Creators / shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Canada, Belarus and Russia collectively possess around 70% of the world’s potash reserves. Together with China, those four countries produce <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-center/potash-statistics-and-information">80% of the global output</a> and dominate a <a href="https://resourcetrade.earth/">US$15 billion (£12 billion) international market</a> for potassium fertiliser.</p>
<p>Potash prices are prone to volatility and there have been two big spikes since 2000. The first was in 2009, when prices <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/commodity-markets">more than tripled</a>. Despite widespread concern about fertiliser-driven <a href="https://theconversation.com/further-food-price-rises-could-cause-up-to-1-million-additional-deaths-in-2023-199120">food price instability</a>, little action was taken to shield against future shocks. </p>
<p>In 2021 increased fertiliser demand, post-COVID-19 economic recovery, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring fuel costs led to another <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1088776/full">rapid price escalation</a>. <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/soaring-fertilizer-prices-add-inflationary-pressures-and-food-security-concerns">Sanctions</a> on Belarus added to the disruption. By April 2022, potash was <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/commodity-markets">six times more expensive</a> than it had been in January 2021.</p>
<p>Prices have since dipped a little. While this respite may be welcome, the volatility underscores the pressing need to fortify agriculture against unforeseen shocks.</p>
<p>Potash mining also has a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/mining3020011">considerable environmental impact</a>. For each tonne of potassium that is extracted, around three tonnes of mine waste is generated – mostly salt. This is generally left piled up in “salt mountains”. Without proper management that salt can be washed by rains into surrounding rivers and groundwaters where it can significantly damage ecosystems.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mine with large piles of wastes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576557/original/file-20240219-23-pi1lsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A potash mine in Belarus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olga Maksimava / shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>We also still don’t know exactly what impact increasing potassium concentrations from fertiliser use will have on life in rivers and lakes. Certainly in lab studies it has proven highly toxic to a range of animals. We need to know more about this before we support simply putting more potassium in soils.</p>
<h2>Six things we must do</h2>
<p>To address soil potassium deficiencies and guard against yield fluctuations, price volatility and environmental impacts, we propose <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-00929-8.epdf?sharing_token=qhRQ1iepxmbV7dxrbcIgGtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0NCdnu7x8IwXr3USOl-E8-A5H2Nqj_gLRuSjtW7hxPh_hd72uJ4hiStFDWxhn_AyhCkX0KybktR6HIOHHgWMkTCyIwR-8GuUGO79NJZw-1ezaLJ7AzLGlkAWaP0TusHPhw%3D">six targeted actions</a>:</p>
<p><strong>1. Review current potassium stocks and flows.</strong> We still don’t have a global assessment of potassium soil stocks which would identify at-risk countries and regions.</p>
<p><strong>2. Get better at predicting price fluctuations.</strong> With volatile potassium prices causing food price spikes, we’ll need to develop our monitoring and forecasting capabilities. An international scheme for reporting potassium resources would give us better data.</p>
<p><strong>3. Help for farmers.</strong> “Sufficient” potassium levels should be defined for each area, based on local assessments considering things like how much potassium was already in the soil and what crops are grown there. There could then be targeted fertiliser recommendations for local farmers.</p>
<p><strong>4. Evaluate the environmental effects.</strong> We need to synthesise all available evidence on environmental damage from potash mining, and a potential increase in potassium fertilisers. We especially need to know what it means for rivers and lakes. Potash alternatives such as polyhalite (a potassium mineral with a lower chloride content) should be considered.</p>
<p><strong>5. Develop a circular potassium economy.</strong> Potassium can be recycled and reused. Creating a circular potassium economy will mean capturing more potassium from human and animal sewage and adding it back on crops to grow more food, so we can eat it again, and so on. Promote diets with lower potassium footprints to reduce reliance on mined potassium sources.</p>
<p><strong>6. More cooperation between governments.</strong> Similar to actions on phosphorus and nitrogen, we need an intergovernmental mechanism to consolidate knowledge on potassium, set globally agreed targets and quantify economic benefits.</p>
<p>As phosphorus and nitrogen gain global attention, potassium must not be left behind. A proposal for a resolution on potassium at a future United Nations environment assembly holds the key to intergovernmental action, setting the stage for positive change and integrated nutrient management to achieve global biodiversity targets.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Brownlie receives funding from NERC, ESPRC and the GEF to conduct collaborative international science research projects. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Maslin is the UNFCCC designated point of contact for UCL. He is co-director of the London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership and a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. He is a member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board, Sheep Included Ltd, Lansons and NetZeroNow advisory boards. He has received grant funding from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, DFG, Royal Society, DIFD, BEIS, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Research England, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, CIFF, Sprint2020, and British Council. He has received funding from the BBC, Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD, HP and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Alexander receives funding from ESRC, BBSRC, NERC, Innovate UK, European Commission, Wellcome Trust and Royal Society.</span></em></p>This key fertiliser ingredient is subject to sudden price spikes.Will Brownlie, Senior Science Project Manager, UK Centre for Ecology & HydrologyMark Maslin, Professor of Natural Sciences, UCLPeter Alexander, Senior Lecturer in Global Food Security, The University of EdinburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230792024-02-16T04:57:13Z2024-02-16T04:57:13ZAustralians are washing microplastics down the drain and it’s ending up on our farms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576094/original/file-20240215-30-6i3a89.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C34%2C5725%2C3794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-young-woman-doing-laundry-home-1491577367">Pixel-Shot, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian wastewater treatment plants produce thousands of tonnes of treated sewage sludge every year. This nutrient-rich material is then dried to make “biosolids”, which are used to fertilise agricultural soil. </p>
<p>Unfortunately every kilogram of biosolids also contains thousands of tiny pieces of plastic. These pieces are so small they can only be seen under a microscope, so they’re called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/microplastics">microplastics</a>.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135423015117">our new research</a>, we sampled biosolids from three states and calculated the average contribution of microplastics per person: 3g in New South Wales and 4.5g in Queensland. But the average in South Australia was 11.5g – that’s about the same amount of plastic as a plastic bag.</p>
<p>Roughly 80% of this microplastic comes from washing clothes. We need to protect agricultural soil from contamination by making simple changes at home, mandating filters on washing machines and introducing more effective wastewater treatment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/microplastics-are-common-in-homes-across-29-countries-new-research-shows-whos-most-at-risk-189051">Microplastics are common in homes across 29 countries. New research shows who's most at risk</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Biosolids as fertiliser</h2>
<p>Most domestic wastewater comes from household kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. </p>
<p>Wastewater treatment separates most of the water and leaves sewage sludge behind. This mixture of water and organic material can then be sent to landfill for disposal or dried to form a material called “biosolids”.</p>
<p>In Australia, two-thirds of the <a href="https://www.biosolids.com.au/guidelines/australian-biosolids-statistics/">340,000 tonnes produced annually</a> are used on farms to improve soil quality and stimulate plant growth. This not only boosts agricultural productivity but also allows for more sustainable disposal of treated sewage sludge. The waste becomes a resource, a useful and economically viable fertiliser, rather than ending up in landfill.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-200-tonnes-of-microplastics-are-dumped-into-aussie-farmland-every-year-from-wastewater-sludge-137278">More than 1,200 tonnes of microplastics are dumped into Aussie farmland every year from wastewater sludge</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Microplastics in Australian biosolids</h2>
<p>Wastewater treatment plants can capture anywhere from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2022.107831">60% to more than 90%</a> of the microplastics in sewage before the wastewater is discharged. But plastic is durable and does not degrade during treatment. So the microplastic particles removed from the wastewater are simply transferred to the sludge. </p>
<p>We assessed the abundance, characteristics and size ranges of microplastics in biosolids collected from 13 wastewater treatment plants across three states.</p>
<p>We found every kilogram of biosolid contains between 11,000 and 150,000 microplastic particles. </p>
<p>Most of the microplastics found were invisible to the naked eye, ranging from 20 to 200 micrometres in size. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Grid showing four separate microscopy images of microplastics in biosolid samples" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575745/original/file-20240214-24-di49kb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Various microplastic particles from biosolid samples can be as seen under the microscope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shima Ziajahromi</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most common type of microplastic was microfibres from fabric. We found more microplastic fibres during cold seasons. We suspect this corresponds to people washing more synthetic fleece clothing and blankets. </p>
<p>Microbeads are tiny balls of microplastic sometimes added to personal care products and detergents. We did not find any microbeads in samples from South Australia and New South Wales. These states were among the first to support a <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/plastics-and-packaging/plastic-microbeads">voluntary industry phase-out of plastic microbeads</a>. </p>
<p>In contrast, we found a small amount of microbeads in samples from Queensland, which only <a href="https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/98573">banned microbeads in September last year</a>. That was more than a year after samples were collected for this study.</p>
<p>We estimate Australians release between 0.7g and 21g of microplastics per person into wastewater every year. This wide range is based on our results, which varied from state to state: 0.7g to 5.9g in NSW, 1g to 7.2g in Queensland and 1.9g to 21g in SA. We don’t know why it varies so much between states.</p>
<p>This contributes to the amount of microplastics in biosolids. Our biosolid samples contained anywhere from 1kg to 17kg of microplastics per tonne. Remember this is being transported into our farmlands.</p>
<h2>What’s the problem?</h2>
<p>Microplastics are steadily accumulating in agricultural soils, where they will remain for hundreds of years. While natural weathering processes such as sunshine and rain will slowly break down microplastics into smaller and smaller particles, that only makes matters worse. Smaller particles cause more harmful effects to soil organisms.</p>
<p>Eating small pieces of plastic can cause internal abrasions and blockages in the digestive tract. In very small aquatic animals such as zooplankton, microplastics can reduce absorption of nutrients from food, <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.7b03574">decrease reproduction rates, and cause death</a>.</p>
<p>These tiny particles also contain a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7355763/">cocktail of toxic chemicals</a>, either added during manufacturing to improve the product or soaked up from the environment. This makes them <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389420319026?casa_token=4Ny10i4YQ_UAAAAA:71b3vKN1UUA7TaSKkWQ76Up0TiRR_MoE6enVmKLeynDLo_2alsz_5aWeNS_Eal5LchEt91Gedg">even more dangerous</a>.</p>
<p>Smaller microplastics (less than 100 micrometres in size) are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389423005113">even more harmful for soil organisms</a>. </p>
<p>Microplastics in soil can be ingested by soil organisms such as earthworms and cause harmful effects on these vital organisms. Microplastic exposure has also been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149338">adversely affect soil health and plant growth</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.biosolids.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Emerging-Contaminants-in-Biosolids-Research-report.pdf">Australian regulations</a> govern the amounts of heavy metals, nutrients, pathogens and some emerging contaminants allowed in biosolids, but there is no guideline for microplastics concentrations. We think that has to change. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stockpiles of biosolids from sludge lagoons with a tractor in the background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574840/original/file-20240212-18-j43xxo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Biosolids from sludge lagoons in South Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SA Water</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Here’s what we can do</h2>
<p>Our research shows biosolids are a significant source of microplastics in agricultural systems. More research is needed to better understand the risks. </p>
<p>We need to put effective control measures in place to minimise the accumulation of microplastic in productive agricultural soils. </p>
<p>The most effective way to do this is to reduce the level of microplastics in biosolids at the source. </p>
<p>We know most microplastics in biosolids come from washing clothes. While it may not be possible to eliminate the use of synthetic fabrics, there are some measures we can all take to reduce the amount of microplastic washing off our clothes into the wastewater stream. Properly installed <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.777865">filters in washing machines</a> have been shown to significantly reduce microplastic levels in wastewater. </p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-plastics-plan-2021.pdf">National Plastics Plan</a> recommends the Australian government work with industry to “phase-in” microfibre filters on all washing machines by 2030. But why wait until 2030? </p>
<p>Several jurisdictions, including <a href="https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000041553759">France</a>, <a href="https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-279">Ontario</a> and <a href="https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/ca/20212022/bills/CAB00022073/">California</a>, have already made microfibre filters on washing machines mandatory. It’s time Australia did the same. </p>
<p>In the meantime, there are simple things everyone can do at home. Wash clothes in cold water, avoid running the machine for light loads if you can wait to do a full load, and wash synthetic fabrics less frequently. These steps will also save energy and money. </p>
<p>It’s far better to stop microplastics entering the wastewater stream than <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213343722007047?via%3Dihub">trying to remove them at the wastewater treatment plant</a>. Prevention is always better than a cure. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humanitys-signature-study-finds-plastic-pollution-in-the-worlds-lakes-can-be-worse-than-in-oceans-209487">'Humanity's signature': study finds plastic pollution in the world's lakes can be worse than in oceans</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223079/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shima Ziajahromi receives funding from the Queensland Government through Advance Queensland Industry Research Project. This project was co-sponsored by Urban Utilities, Sydney Water, SA Water, Water Corporation (WA) and Eurofins Environment Testing Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frederic Leusch receives funding related to this research topic from the Queensland Government through an Advance Queensland Industry Research Project, Water Research Australia, and various Australian water utilities. This project was co-sponsored by Urban Utilities, Sydney Water, SA Water, Water Corporation (WA) and Eurofins Environment Testing Australia.</span></em></p>We sampled sewage sludge from 13 wastewater treatment plants across three states. We found every resident adds microplastics to farmland, in dried sewage sludge (biosolids) used as fertiliser.Shima Ziajahromi, Advance Queensland Research Fellow, Griffith UniversityFrederic Leusch, Professor of Environmental Science, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166402024-01-29T05:26:27Z2024-01-29T05:26:27ZAustralia’s soils are notoriously poor. Here’s how scientists are working to improve them<p>Most things you eat grew in soil or ate plants growing in soil. We don’t think much about it, but soil is essential to life. </p>
<p>During the last Ice Age, much of the northern hemisphere was covered in glaciers. As they moved, glaciers eroded away the top layer of rock and left a fresh layer of rock, ready to weather into soil. </p>
<p>But Australia didn’t have this renewal of soil from grinding ice – or from volcanoes, which dredge up minerals vital to plant life from deep below. As a result, our soils are famously very poor – heavily weathered, old, and short on nutrients. This is one reason why we have so much land devoted to grazing animals (crops need more nutrients than grass does), a heavy reliance on fertilisers and a <a href="https://www.soilscienceaustralia.org.au/about/about-soil/state-soils/">detailed knowledge</a> of fertile soils where they exist. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, our soils – <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-43394-3_20">valued at A$930 billion</a> – are under threat. The latest <a href="https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/land/environment/soil">State of the Environment report</a> rated the health of our soils as “poor” and declining. Late last year, the government <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/farm-food-drought/natural-resources/soils/national-soil-action-plan">released a national plan</a> to improve our soils. </p>
<p>Researchers are working on ways of improving Australian soils to make agriculture more sustainable and less reliant on fertilisers. Here are some examples. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="black soil in hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571820/original/file-20240129-29-84yv2w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Good soil is hard to come by.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>From farm to food</h2>
<p>You might wonder what the problem is. Aren’t we growing and exporting more food than ever? Farm productivity and incomes are at <a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/products/insights/snapshot-of-australian-agriculture#farm-incomes-at-record-highs">record highs</a> and many farmers are adopting more efficient practices informed by research to help manage their soil amid new risks such as shifting rainfall and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-flash-drought-an-earth-scientist-explains-194141">flash droughts</a>. </p>
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<p>But many of our soils are fundamentally vulnerable because they function in old and weathered landscapes. To keep the food coming, farmers have had to resort to clearing more land and increasing <a href="https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/land/environment/soil#soil-health">fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides</a>. That works short term. But there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/intensive-farming-is-eating-up-the-australian-continent-but-theres-another-way-130877">increasing concerns</a> this intensive approach ends up making soil worse – more eroded, more saline and more acidic. All three of these are worsened by our changing climate.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/regenerative-agriculture-is-all-the-rage-but-its-not-going-to-fix-our-food-system-203922">'Regenerative agriculture' is all the rage – but it's not going to fix our food system</a>
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<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Soil scientists have long worked on ways to get more out of our soils. The Green Revolution of the 1960s led to huge increases in yield – but required huge increases in application of fertilisers and other chemicals. </p>
<p>In Australia, farmers will likely have to rely on fertiliser for the foreseeable future as a way to correct soils which are naturally short on nutrients. </p>
<p>What we can do is learn to apply fertiliser only when it’s needed. That’s good for farmers – fertiliser is expensive – and good for the health of soil and nearby waterways. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-sub-sahara-can-learn-from-indias-green-revolution-the-good-and-the-bad-78868">What sub-Sahara can learn from India's 'Green revolution': the good and the bad</a>
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<p>In southwest Western Australia, for example, soil scientists are <a href="https://soilswest.org.au/project-npk/">working to understand</a> how best to dose the soil with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus – and how much to use. </p>
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<p>In <a href="https://estuaries.dwer.wa.gov.au/soil-wise">another project</a>, scientists are working with farmers and land managers to sample and test their soil and interpret the data together. The goal is to pare back fertiliser use, which improves water quality in nearby waterways and estuaries, as unused fertiliser runs off and can trigger algal blooms. </p>
<p>Precision application of fertiliser is one method. But there are many other innovative soil projects across Australia. </p>
<p>For instance, fungi do vital work in cycling soil nutrients. And mycorrhizal fungi go one step further and live in symbiotic relationships with plants. What if we could use these fungi as a kind of living biofertiliser for grain crops? Scientists <a href="https://groundcover.grdc.com.au/agronomy/soil-and-nutrition/biofertiliser-potential-in-native-fungus">are exploring</a> the potential for one such species, the ridge-stemmed bolete (<em>Austroboletus occidentalis</em>), to play this role. </p>
<h2>It’s alive!</h2>
<p>Researchers recently estimated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304663120">soil contains</a> about three-fifths of all species on the planet, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes, mites, worms and insects.</p>
<p>Soil is, in short, teeming with life. Some underground lifeforms are pests to farmers, chewing on the roots of crops. But many others are beneficial. </p>
<p>If we <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(23)00211-2">improve our understanding</a> and measurement of soil microorganisms, we could use them to speed up recovery of degraded landscapes, such as former mine sites or unproductive farmland. </p>
<p>Our understanding of how things living in soil impact environments and respond to change is rapidly growing, but we are still scratching the surface. For example, more than 90% of the estimated 5 million species of fungi are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/30/flora-fauna-and-funga-un-backs-new-term-for-conservation-discussions">currently unknown</a>.</p>
<h2>Digging deeper</h2>
<p>Australia has the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1706103114">world’s third highest loss</a> of soil carbon over the last 250 years, caused largely by very high rates of land clearing. We risk releasing even more soil carbon in the future, as climate change is expected to worsen erosion and bushfire intensity. </p>
<p>One response by the government has been to create a market for soil carbon credits, the first of which went on sale last year. The market-based approach has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.119146">widely criticised</a>. Soil experts <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-fix-australias-approach-to-soil-carbon-credits-so-they-really-count-towards-our-climate-goals-210880">have called</a> for the credit system to be much more robust to ensure it actually works.</p>
<p>Research into the problems facing our soil is important, but we’ll need government and industry backing to better coordinate the response. </p>
<p>That’s why last year’s action plan has been broadly welcomed, despite being 18 months overdue. The joint federal-state plan indicates governments at both levels recognise the danger to our soil. Framed around securing soil as a “national asset”, the plan envisages standardising soil data collection and sharing, accelerating uptake of best-practice soil management, among other things. </p>
<p>Will it stop the damage done to our lifegiving soils? That remains to be seen. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-fix-australias-approach-to-soil-carbon-credits-so-they-really-count-towards-our-climate-goals-210880">Here's how to fix Australia's approach to soil carbon credits so they really count towards our climate goals</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216640/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Borrett is part of SoilsWest and collaborates on projects that receive funding from Murdoch University, the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. </span></em></p>The health of our soils is poor – and getting worse. Here’s why that matters and what we can do about itRyan Borrett, Science Communications Coordinator, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105602023-08-01T06:16:12Z2023-08-01T06:16:12ZHere’s how wastewater facilities could tackle food waste, generate energy and slash emissions<p>Most Australian food waste ends up in landfill. Rotting in the absence of oxygen produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. While some facilities capture this “landfill gas” to produce energy, or burn it off to release carbon dioxide instead, it’s a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-sensors-to-help-detect-methane-emitted-by-landfills">major contributor to climate change</a>. Valuable resources such as water and nutrients are also wasted.</p>
<p>Composting food waste is the most common alternative. In the presence of oxygen, microbes break down food and garden organics without producing methane. The product returns nutrients to farms and gardens. But composting facilities are limited and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-30/fogo-household-organic-food-waste-overwhelmed-by-plastics/102611732">struggling to cope</a> with contamination from plastic.</p>
<p><a href="https://racefor2030.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/0195_Mapping-Syd-Org-Waste_Final-report_.pdf">We analysed</a> the capacity of three wastewater facilities in Sydney to process organic wastes from surrounding households and businesses. </p>
<p>We found processing at the wastewater treatment plants could cut 33,000 tonnes of emissions and capture 9,600 tonnes of nutrients. All 14 wastewater facilities in Sydney could be modified to accept food waste, reducing emissions and producing renewable energy. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-compost-why-recycling-food-waste-is-so-much-better-than-sending-it-to-landfill-205583">The case for compost: why recycling food waste is so much better than sending it to landfill</a>
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<h2>Why process food waste at wastewater facilities?</h2>
<p>Most wastewater facilities in Sydney use “anaerobic digestors” to treat sewage. Along with producing energy, this type of processing produces nutrient-rich biosolids that can be used for soil conditioning and as fertiliser.</p>
<p>Wastewater facilities are normally built with excess capacity to meet future demand and so could be used to handle food waste.</p>
<p>When the New South Wales government recently assessed the <a href="https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/385730/NSW-Waste-and-Sustainable-Materials-Strategy-A-guide-to-infrastructure-needs.pdf">infrastructure needs</a> to process food waste for the Greater Sydney Area by 2030, it identified an additional 260,000 tonnes per year of anaerobic digestion capacity is needed, on top of additional new composting infrastructure.</p>
<p>Currently, there is only one <a href="https://earthpower.com.au">commercial anaerobic digestion plant in Sydney</a> with a processing capacity of 52,000 tonnes per year. </p>
<p><a href="https://racefor2030.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/0195_Mapping-Syd-Org-Waste_Final-report_.pdf">Our study</a> estimated just three wastewater facilities could fill 20% of the identified anaerobic digestion capacity gap required for Sydney by 2030. </p>
<p>Overseas, it is common for wastewater facilities to handle food waste, and <a href="https://www.sydneywater.com.au/content/dam/sydneywater/documents/institute-for-sustainable-futures-creating-a-circular-economy-precinct.pdf">in some cases</a> generate more electricity than needed for their operation. These facilities give the excess electricity to the communities from which the food waste is collected and the nutrients back to local farms, creating a circular economy.</p>
<p>While industrial-scale composting facilities are normally located on the outskirts of Sydney, wastewater facilities are distributed throughout the city. This provides an additional benefit as food waste can be processed closer to where it is made, saving on significant transfer infrastructure and transport costs. </p>
<p>Although some changes are required to enable wastewater facilities to accept and process food waste, there are great returns on investment. As a recent <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2022-10/ISF%20Unlocking%20the%20value%20of%20food%20waste%20in%20Western%20Sydney%20full%20report.pdf">economic study for Western Parkland City</a> has shown, upgrading facilities brings wider economic benefits and creates jobs, along with the environmental benefits. </p>
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<h2>Separate food waste at the source</h2>
<p>To maximise anaerobic digestion at wastewater facilities, food waste needs to be separated from other wastes. This is because contamination and non-compatible materials in the waste stream can hinder the microbal processes driving anaerobic digestion. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/385683/NSW-Waste-and-Sustainable-Materials-Strategy-2041.pdf">NSW targets</a> require all businesses making large amounts of food waste to separate it from other waste by 2025. Similarly, all households will need to separate food waste by 2030.</p>
<p>Currently most councils in Sydney offer a garden waste collection service. Only a few provide food waste collection and mostly in FOGO bins (combined Food Organics and Garden Organics waste service). However, the garden organics component of FOGO cannot be easily digested with sewage and would need significant additional pre-treatment before it can be processed.</p>
<p>Urban food organics are normally collected by trucks. This waste stream could potentially be piped to the wastewater treatment plant, with or without sewage. But piped networks were not considered for food waste collection in this study. It’s an interesting area for future research, especially in dense urban areas.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-keep-putting-apartment-residents-waste-in-the-too-hard-basket-200545">We can't keep putting apartment residents' waste in the too hard basket</a>
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<h2>Achieving net zero targets while reducing waste</h2>
<p>The three wastewater facilities we studied could generate an estimated total of 38 billion litres of methane a year. This could replace the natural gas used by 30,000 households. </p>
<p>The bioenergy potential of the organic wastes from the study areas was estimated to be 126,000MWh. That is four and a half times more than the energy generated from solar panels installed in the area. </p>
<p>This study shows methane generated by anaerobic digestion can play an important role in the renewable energy mix. It can be used to generate electricity, as transport fuel, or as a natural gas replacement. </p>
<p>The wastewater facility at Malabar in Sydney is <a href="https://arena.gov.au/projects/malabar-biomethane-injection-project/">the first project in Australia injecting biogas</a> into the gas network, demonstrating its feasibility. </p>
<p>The waste, energy and water sectors are all expected to achieve net zero targets. Reducing food waste and redirecting to more beneficial use works towards these targets. </p>
<p>Harnessing the full potential of anaerobic digestion of food waste at wastewater facilities will require collaboration between these sectors. But as we have shown, it will be worth it. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/households-find-low-waste-living-challenging-heres-what-needs-to-change-197022">Households find low-waste living challenging. Here's what needs to change</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210560/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by funding from RACE for 2030, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, NSW Department of Primary Industries, NSW EPA, and Sydney Water. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported by funding from RACE for 2030, NSW Department of Planning and Environment, NSW Department of Primary Industries, NSW EPA and Sydney Water.</span></em></p>Sydney’s 14 wastewater treatment plants could be modified to also accept food waste, research shows. The ‘anaerobic digestion’ process would produce energy as well as nutrients for reuse.Melita Jazbec, Research Principal at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, University of Technology SydneyAndrea Turner, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyBen Madden, Senior Research Consultant at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2068262023-06-01T15:25:59Z2023-06-01T15:25:59ZEurope has lost over half a billion birds in 40 years. The single biggest cause? Pesticides and fertilisers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529572/original/file-20230601-20-31vjfi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C335%2C2056%2C2431&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Farmland birds like the corn bunting have seen their numbers plummet since 1980.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aurélien Audevard</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A trickle of studies warning that the enormous variety of living things on Earth is diminishing has turned into a flood. The evidence for these losses within regions and globally is undeniable. But data on biodiversity, and what is causing its decline, is still patchy – restricted to some causes, some places and some species. That isn’t the case for birds in Europe, however.</p>
<p>Birds have long fascinated amateur and professional scientists, and close cooperation across Europe has created a deep body of knowledge about their habits, needs and numbers. Some of the longest-running datasets of their kind concern birds which live at least part of their lives in Europe. </p>
<p>This data paints a grim picture: an estimated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0198">550 million birds</a> have been lost from Europe’s total population over the last 40 years or so. It is a shocking statistic, and tells us something profound about humanity’s broken relationship with nature.</p>
<p>Scientists know that biodiversity is under increasing pressure, especially from rapid changes in how land is used (from forest to farmland, for instance) and rising temperatures. But how different species respond to those pressures, which of them is the most important, and how conservationists can respond to alleviate them, have all remained contentious issues.</p>
<p>Taking advantage of high-quality data on birds, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216573120">a new paper</a> I wrote with French researchers analysed how 170 bird species have responded to human-induced pressures in Europe, using data collected at more than 20,000 monitoring sites across 28 countries over 37 years, including data from the UK. </p>
<p>We found that chemicals used on farms to control insects and plants seen as weeds that might reduce crop yields are depriving many birds of their main food source, and that this is the single biggest cause of their decline across Europe.</p>
<h2>The man-made drivers of change</h2>
<p>We looked at four major sources of pressure on bird populations: agricultural intensification (measured by the high use of pesticides and fertilisers), climate change and its influence on temperatures, changes in forest cover, and urbanisation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tractor with outspread spraying arms in a field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529601/original/file-20230601-27-aobw9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chemicals applied to maximise crop yields have taken a heavy toll on wildlife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/agricultural-tractor-outspread-spraying-arms-spreads-1610438524">Charles Bowman/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern farming methods were the biggest cause of decline for most bird populations – especially for those that feed on insects and other invertebrates, such as swifts, yellow wagtails, spotted flycatchers, wheatears and stonechats. How birds responded to changes in forest cover, urbanisation and climate change was much more variable and species-specific.</p>
<p>Between 1980 and 2016, common birds in Europe declined in abundance by a quarter. But numbers of farmland birds more than halved during this period. There were also declines in both woodland birds and urban dwellers, in northern, cold-preferring birds, and even in some southern, warm-preferring bird species – though the overall trend in this latter group of birds is one of steady growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A figure comparing four maps of Europe according to declines among different types of bird populations." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529608/original/file-20230601-17-an4vwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Birds which live on and around farms have suffered the deepest declines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2216573120">Rigal et al. (2023)/PNAS</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the study’s main findings is that the large use of pesticides and fertilisers on farms in particular is the most significant driver of bird population declines across Europe, including the UK. This does not come as a great surprise – many studies have come to this conclusion. But this is the first study to look at the man-made drivers in one go, using some of the best data available and modern statistical methods. The results are clear.</p>
<p>Agricultural practices began to change significantly after the second world war, as countries introduced measures to increase the output of farms. Yet such efforts to increase output, including an increasing reliance on pesticides and fertilisers, have come at a significant cost to birds and other wildlife – and critically, the overall health of the environment.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/impact-of-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss-on-food-security/#:%7E:text=It%20concluded%20climate%20change%20and,of%20heavy%20rainfall%20and%20droughts.">recent UK government report</a> found that the loss of biodiversity, alongside climate change, presented the greatest medium- to long-term threat to domestic food production. Biodiversity loss has consequences for society far beyond endangered species.</p>
<p>We believe that birds are mainly affected by pesticides and fertilisers through the loss of food, though these chemicals may be directly affecting their health too. Pesticides are designed to kill the insects and invertebrates that birds eat. Fertilisers change what kind of plants grow in an environment, often to the detriment of a wide variety of species. Invertebrates need this vegetation for food and shelter, and birds need it too – as well as the invertebrates.</p>
<p>Invertebrates are an important part of the diet of many bird species, but they are rocket fuel for growing chicks, which are the engine of population growth. Invertebrates are particularly important during the breeding period for over 80% of the birds in our study. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-triggering-global-collapse-in-insect-numbers-stressed-farmland-shows-63-decline-new-research-170738">dramatic loss of insects</a> we often hear about appears to be having a profound impact on birds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A swift in the blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529602/original/file-20230601-29-kj4cad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Insect-eating birds, like the common swift, have the most to gain from restrictions on pesticides.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/common-swift-apus-single-bird-flight-146220743">Erni/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Nature-friendly food</h2>
<p>The question is how best to respond. Nature is in trouble on farmland, and yet farmers can be a big part of the solution if they are supported by the right policies.</p>
<p>We need much greater support for nature-friendly farming practices, and a shift away from farming dominated by pesticides and inorganic fertilisers. This would be good for nature, for farmers and food production, for the climate, for consumers – and many progressive farmers are leading the way.</p>
<p>Our results also show the power of citizen science and cooperation across borders to advance science and better understand the natural world – and how to turn things around.</p>
<p>Now we need governments across the world to support land management schemes that reward nature-friendly farming, such as committing to managing at least 10% of farmland for nature, which in turn will help sustain or even <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1740">boost farm yields</a>.</p>
<p>But we also need wider food system reform, including nature-friendly diets. Retailers, suppliers and processors can all play their part to ensure a healthy environment that can feed us and bring back nature – with all the benefits for people this will bring.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gregory does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Insect-eating birds such as swifts and yellow wagtails are particularly vulnerable.Richard Gregory, Honorary Professor of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042432023-05-08T06:13:21Z2023-05-08T06:13:21ZFarmers in South Africa face power cuts and a weak rand - but a number of factors are working in their favour too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523770/original/file-20230502-18-sne03b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All of South Africa's wheat production takes place during the winter months</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Winter is an important season for South African agriculture, with some of its key field crops being produced during the cold months of June, July and August, and maturing after that, with harvesting in December. Preparation of the land for winter crops begins in April, which is also the same time harvesting of the summer crops begins.</p>
<p>Farmers in the Western and Northern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and other winter crop growing regions are making arrangements for growing winter wheat, canola, barley and oats. </p>
<p>All of the country’s wheat production takes place during the winter months, making the winter season an important contributor to the country’s wheat needs. South Africa produces <a href="https://www.namc.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/South-African-Supply-Demand-Estimates-March-2023-report.pdf">roughly 60% of its wheat requirements and imports the balance</a>. It also produces, on average, about <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Feb-23-Wintergrain-SnD.pdf">90% of its barley annual consumption</a>. Domestic production of oats is about <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Feb-23-Wintergrain-SnD.pdf">64% of annual consumption</a>. The country is <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Feb-23-Oilseeds-SnD.pdf">self sufficient in canola production</a>. Barley, oats and canola are all winter crops. </p>
<p>This year, the outlook for winter crops is clouded by a difficult operating environment, especially the areas that are under irrigation. </p>
<p>The two biggest headwinds are power cuts and dollar strength. Nevertheless, there are also positives which should take the pressure off food price rises that have hit consumers hard. These positives include a fall in the cost of inputs, like fertiliser and agrochemicals, as well as good harvests from the summer season just ending.</p>
<h2>Headwinds</h2>
<p>The main contributing factor is the increase in recurring power cuts which will affect irrigation. South Africa’s agriculture has never faced a period of power cuts as severe as the current ones.</p>
<p>The agricultural sector in general is heavily reliant on sustainable energy. For example, recent work by the <a href="https://www.bfap.co.za/">Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP)</a> shows that roughly a third of South Africa’s farming income is directly dependent on irrigation. This shows that disruptions in power supply generally puts at risk a substantive share of the South African agricultural fortunes.</p>
<p>Of all South Africa’s field crops, wheat has the largest production – <a href="https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/agbiz-calls-for-less-loadshedding-in-areas-under-irrigation-2023-01-23">about half</a> – under irrigation. Of the other key field crops, <a href="https://wandilesihlobo.com/2023/01/18/loadshedding-is-disrupting-sa-agriculture-and-agribusiness-activities/">about 15% of soybeans, 20% of maize and 34% of sugar production are under irrigation</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=306&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524861/original/file-20230508-171112-epn7ao.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>The potential disruption of irrigation would lead to poor yields, and ultimately a poor harvest. Such an eventuality would lead to an increase in wheat imports. </p>
<p>Industry role-players and the government are alert to the problem and are monitoring the impact closely through a <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/task-team-monitor-impact-load-shedding-agriculture-sector">ministerial task team</a>. In addition, <a href="https://www.eskom.co.za/">Eskom</a>, the power monopoly, along with the government, are exploring possibilities of reducing <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-power-crisis-going-off-the-grid-works-for-the-wealthy-but-could-deepen-injustice-for-the-poor-200288">power cuts</a> which are expected to spike during the winter when demand usually rises.</p>
<p>The second headwind is that South African farmers have not benefited fully from the decline over the past year in the US dollar prices of some of their key inputs such as agrochemicals. This is because of the weakening of the South African rand against the dollar, shaving off some of the benefits of the price decline in US dollar terms.</p>
<p>Thirdly, farmers are experiencing lower commodity prices compared with last year. But a drop in input prices is providing a necessary financial cushion.</p>
<h2>There are positives</h2>
<p>On the plus side, the area plantings for all South Africa’s major crops are expected to be above the five-year average area. This is according to <a href="https://www.sagis.org.za/cec.html">Crop Estimates Committee</a>, a government and industry body that monitors crop production.</p>
<p>Secondly, input prices have come off from last year’s highs. For example, in February 2023, essential agrochemicals such as glyphosate, acetochlor, and atrazine were down in rand terms by <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Chemical-and-Fertilizer-Report_Mrt-2023.pdf">32%, 18%, and 2%</a>, respectively compared to February 2022. These price declines have continued through to March 2023. </p>
<p>These declines would have been higher had the South African Rand not weakened against the US dollar over the same period. That’s because in US dollar terms, the prices of the very same agrochemicals are down by 30% from February 2022. Prices of insecticides and fungicides have also declined notably from last year’s levels.</p>
<p>Also worth noting is that in February 2023, essential fertilisers such as ammonia, urea, di-ammonium phosphate and potassium chloride were down <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Chemical-and-Fertilizer-Report_Mrt-2023.pdf">6%, 36%, 28% and 14% in rand terms</a>, respectively. Again, in US dollar terms, the price decline was more notable, which speaks to the impact of the relatively weaker South African rand on imported products.</p>
<p>These price changes in inputs are vital as they impact vast components of the grain input costs. For example, fertiliser accounts for a third of grain farmers’ input costs, while other agrochemicals account for roughly 13%. </p>
<p>A third positive factor is that the weather conditions for the winter crops also remain positive. In its <a href="https://www.weathersa.co.za/home/seasonalclimate">Seasonal Climate Watch update</a> published on 03 April 2023, the South African Weather Service <a href="https://www.ingwelala.co.za/archives/news-archives/seasonal-climate-watch.html">noted</a> that the winter crop growing regions of South Africa will receive rains.</p>
<p>A fourth positive factor is that the summer crops, which are nearing the harvest process, are in reasonably good condition. I generally expect an ample harvest in most summer crops, which is aligned with the view of the <a href="https://www.sagis.org.za/cec.html">Crop Estimates Committee</a>.</p>
<h2>Takeways</h2>
<p>From a consumer perspective, developments are broadly positive and bode well for some moderation in consumer food price inflation in the second half of the year, when the decline in commodity prices could begin to filter into the retail prices. </p>
<p>The one major risk is electricity stability. This is as much a risk for farmers as it is for consumers.</p>
<p>However, I am hopeful that the government’s interventions, such as the load curtailment and diesel rebate, to limit the damage of the electricity crisis to food production will help. </p>
<p>If the government’s proposed interventions help during irrigation periods – afternoons and evenings – South Africans can expect a favourable winter season. The reduction in power cuts will also be particularly beneficial for food processors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).</span></em></p>A third of South Africa’s farming income depends on irrigation. Disruptions in power supply put huge chunks of the country’s agricultural fortunes at risk.Wandile Sihlobo, Senior Fellow, Department of Agricultural Economics, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032352023-04-19T20:08:18Z2023-04-19T20:08:18ZFloods of nutrients from fertilisers and wastewater trash our rivers. Could offsetting help?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521780/original/file-20230419-22-4cypca.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C48%2C5384%2C3946&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The rivers running through the hearts of Australia’s major cities and towns are often carrying heavy loads of nutrients and sediments. </p>
<p>This is a problem. While nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are essential to life in small quantities, in large quantities they become destructive to river and ocean ecosystems. </p>
<p>When rivers are pumped too full of nutrients washing out from farms or from wastewater treatment, bacteria and algae numbers soar. We see the effects in dangerous blue-green algal blooms and in oxygen levels dropping so low that millions of fish can die, as we <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-millions-of-fish-die-gasping-in-the-darling-after-three-years-of-rain-202125">saw recently</a> in Menindee, New South Wales. </p>
<p>Fixing the problem can be expensive and difficult for landholders. That’s where a new idea could help: nutrient offsetting. Here, large wastewater plants can meet stringent requirements to keep nutrient levels low by fixing eroded riverbanks and gullies upstream, creating wetlands, and preventing fertiliser runoff. The end result: cleaner rivers. </p>
<p>While offsetting schemes for carbon have come under <a href="https://theconversation.com/now-we-know-the-flaws-of-carbon-offsets-its-time-to-get-real-about-climate-change-181071">significant scrutiny</a>, nutrient offsetting is a simpler market, with fewer participants and clear ways of measuring success. </p>
<p>Early trials in southeast Queensland by water utilities have proven it can work, as our <a href="https://www.wsaa.asn.au/publication/how-nutrient-trading-regime-can-deliver-environmental-outcomes">new report</a> shows. </p>
<h2>Why are our rivers too full of nutrients?</h2>
<p>In the early industrial period, rivers around the world were seen as dumping grounds, from factory chemicals to tannery waste. Since then, many countries have worked hard to clean up their waterways, with major successes including the UK’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-biologically-dead-to-chart-toppingly-clean-how-the-thames-made-an-extraordinary-recovery-over-60-years-180895">Thames river</a>. </p>
<p>It’s comparatively easy to stop the dumping of chemicals. You can see the pipes and pinpoint who’s doing it. But nutrient overloading is a harder problem, which is why we’re still wrestling with it. </p>
<p>Our cities and towns are growing. Almost seven million more people live in Australia now compared to the year 2000. As our population grows, we need more food, and we create more human waste. Our agriculture sector has also boomed and is exporting more and more food. To make our famously poor soils fertile requires fertiliser. When too much fertiliser is applied, heavy rains can wash it into rivers. Erosion on riverbanks and in gullies make the problem worse. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-a-nature-repair-market-really-work-evidence-suggests-its-highly-unlikely-199975">Would a nature repair market really work? Evidence suggests it's highly unlikely</a>
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<p>Some rivers, estuaries and coastal waters are in real trouble, such as parts of the Murray-Darling, and some urban creeks in our capital cities. We’ve hit their natural limit to handle nutrient loads and gone past it. This can cause algal blooms, fish kills and water too disgusting to drink without expensive treatment. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Erosion in queensland" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521793/original/file-20230419-16-4qon4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Erosion accelerates nutrient runoff from farms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Why do we need offsetting at all?</h2>
<p>Chemical dumping can be solved with laws and enforcement. But while we can fix degraded river catchments to reduce nutrient loads, this is rarely done. That’s because the costs are too high to be borne by any one sector, such as farmers. </p>
<p>By contrast, regulations on nutrients discharged by sewage treatment plants place limits of how much can be released into rivers and estuaries. The costs of further upgrades to sewage treatment plants to reduce nutrients to the required low levels is prohibitively expensive, because ratepayers would end up paying much more for water treatment. </p>
<p>That’s why offsetting can be useful, as it offers a win-win. Urban polluters like wastewater treatment plants can meet their regulatory requirements by restoring eroded and degraded catchment areas upstream to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus flows from farmland. Better, this can be done reasonably cheaply when done at scale. Depending on the available sites, this can be done along rivers and creeks on rural properties, or on council owned land in cities and towns. </p>
<p>Making this viable means using a market. Polluters looking for low-cost ways to comply with regulation of nutrient flows are linked with landholders upstream with degraded land. </p>
<p>This is an emerging solution, but early trials show it has promise. Population-dense south east Queensland has large waterways like the Brisbane and Logan Rivers. Wastewater plant operators such as Logan Water, Urban Utilities and Unity Water have replanted shrubs, grasses and trees along riverbanks, as well as undertaking engineering work to stabilise eroding banks. </p>
<p>This led to significant cost savings. Urban Utilities avoided spending A$8 million in upgrading a sewage treatment plant to cut nutrients and got the same result by spending $800,000 in <a href="https://www.wsaa.asn.au/sites/default/files/publication/download/Case%20study%206%20Using%20nutrient%20offsets%20to%20improve%20the%20Logan%20River.pdf">erosion control and revegetation</a> upriver, which prevented five tonnes of nitrogen entering waterways. Operational costs were also much lower, saving $5 million over ten years. </p>
<p>Controlling erosion keeps nutrients in the soil to help crops and grasses to grow, benefiting farmers, rather than having it washed downstream. Healthier riverbanks create better habitat for birds, reptiles and mammals and makes rivers healthier for fish and other species. </p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Nutrient offsetting is still new in Australia. For it to gain traction across Australia means working to make sure the systems and science are mature. </p>
<p>To maximise benefits and give participants certainty, we’ll need to shift from a piecemeal trial approach to a coordinated trading scheme. Successful overseas examples typically have a third party coordinating buying and selling, and ensure there’s a robust structure to set up and assess these projects. </p>
<p>Canada has seen successes here, such as the South Nation River <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00511.x">trading program</a> which has reduced phosphorus in the river, while America has examples such as the nutrient credit trading program in Chesapeake Bay. In Australia, a voluntary <a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/coasts-waterways/reef/reef-credit-scheme">reef trading scheme</a> is underway in the catchments of rivers flowing into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, involving farmers and a range of investors. </p>
<p>To make sure this works, we need detailed scientific knowledge on comparing nutrient pollution from different sources. Catchment runoff nutrients are mostly bound to soil particles, while sewage treatment plants have much more dissolved nutrients. As yet we don’t know how these sources differ. </p>
<p>We also need to know what methods of land management are best suited to stopping nutrients from washing into rivers, to ensure the best outcome for the money spent. </p>
<h2>Creative solutions are necessary</h2>
<p>Despite our efforts in cleaning up many of our rivers, traditional approaches haven’t been enough to stop nutrient pollution. It’s time to explore creative new approaches to make our rivers and reefs healthier.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-millions-of-fish-die-gasping-in-the-darling-after-three-years-of-rain-202125">How did millions of fish die gasping in the Darling – after three years of rain?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michele Burford receives funding from an Australian Research Council Linkage grant, and a Water Services Association of Australia grant</span></em></p>Many of our rivers are overloaded with nutrients from fertiliser run off and wastewater. Algal blooms, fish kills and poor water follow. One solution? Nutrient offsetting.Michele Burford, Professor - Australian Rivers Institute, and Dean - Research Infrastructure, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2001402023-02-23T06:15:26Z2023-02-23T06:15:26ZSome houseplants take in nutrients from roots outside the soil – and it may change how we care for them<p>In recent years, we have seen growing interest in houseplants, particularly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/jan/16/how-youthful-plant-lovers-are-shaking-up-staid-old-horticultural-ways">among younger generations</a>. Between 2019 and 2022, houseplant sales in the UK <a href="https://gca.org.uk/garden-centres-saw-green-shoots-of-recovery-in-2021/">increased by more than 50%</a>. Indoor plants are associated with a range of <a href="https://theconversation.com/houseplants-dont-just-look-nice-they-can-also-give-your-mental-health-a-boost-186982">environmental and health benefits</a> including cleaner air, better mental health and clearer thinking.</p>
<p>If you’re a plant parent, you probably know that plants need food and water to grow and survive. You will also know that plants have roots for taking these resources in and leaves to absorb the light energy required for photosynthesis. This sounds simple, but many of us (including me) struggle to keep our plants healthy.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.</em> </p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/plant-curious-137238?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=PlantCurious2023&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of a series, Plant Curious</a>, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife.</em></p>
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<p>Many common houseplants, especially those in the <a href="http://www.aroid.org/aroid/">aroid family</a> like the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstera_deliciosa">monstera</a> (or the Swiss cheese plant) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philodendron">philodendron</a> evolved in tough conditions. In their tropical or subtropical forest homes, these plants begin life on the ground but quickly climb the nearest tree to escape the dimly lit forest floor. They produce aerial roots that grow from stems above the ground and attach the plant to a tree’s trunk, allowing them to climb.</p>
<p>Knowing whether these roots take up nutrients or not will influence how we care for these plants. Currently, people tend to feed them in the soil with regular watering and plant food. So in a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pce.14568">recent study</a>, my colleague and I compared aerial and soil-formed roots’ ability to take up nitrogen, an important plant food. </p>
<p>We expected the soil roots to better take up nitrogen because the soil is where the nutrients are – certainly in most houseplant potting mixes. Instead, we found that the aerial roots were far more efficient at taking up nitrogen than their soil counterparts.</p>
<h2>Reach for the sky</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A monstera plant growing up a neighbouring tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511134/original/file-20230220-16-3wb5pv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Monstera climb aerial roots to access lighter areas of the forest canopy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/monstera-plants-growing-heights-20-metres-788113741">Pomme Home/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>As they climb, aroids grow more leaves. To sustain this growth, the plant will require more nutrients and water. Trees and shrubs effectively meet their demands for food and water by adding new pipes called xylem and phloem to the stem or roots. </p>
<p>The xylem is a tissue that transports water and nutrients upward, from the roots to the leaves. The phloem carries sugars the opposite way.</p>
<p>But monstera and philodendron (and other aroids) are instead related to grasses, meaning they are unable to make new pipes to take up resources. Without help, they would run out of suck – like trying to suck a thick milkshake through a small straw – leaving them unable to feed their increasing leaf area. </p>
<p>Monsteras and philodendrons overcome this problem by growing roots from the new stems as they grow (effectively adding more straws). These new roots grow downwards towards the soil where, in theory, they will take up nutrients and water. </p>
<p>But until now, this theory has not been tested.</p>
<h2>Caring for your plants</h2>
<p>We grew three common houseplants, a <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/59193/philodendron-scandens/details">philodendron</a>, an <a href="https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/anthurium-andreanum/">anthurium</a> (flamingo flower) and an <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/32104/epipremnum-pinnatum-aureum/details">epipremnum</a> (devil’s ivy) both in humid conditions where there was plenty of water in the atmosphere, and in conditions typical of an office building (around 45% humidity).</p>
<p>After a few months, we recorded how big the plants were and then measured exactly how much nitrogen was taken up by each type of root. </p>
<p>Nitrogen uptake is measured by using a label – a bit like feeding flowers food dye. Nitrogen is present in nature in two “sizes”, called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_nitrogen">stable isotopes</a>. The heavy one, nitrogen-15, is far less abundant in nature than the lighter nitrogen-14, so when we fed the roots a solution high in the heavy nitrogen, we were able to measure how much of it was taken up compared to the other nitrogen isotope already in the roots. </p>
<p>To compare soil roots with aerial roots, we then fed the heavy nitrogen solution to individual roots and measured the amount of heavy nitrogen that was taken up by each. </p>
<p>Houseplants with more moisture in the air grew bigger and lost less water from their leaves during photosynthesis. In some situations, it was clear the plants were taking up water from their leaves.</p>
<p>Aerial roots were also much better at taking up nitrogen than soil roots. In anthurium and epipremnum, aerial roots took in up to 35% more nitrogen than the soil roots. </p>
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<img alt="A woman standing on a ladder tending to her houseplants." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511136/original/file-20230220-28-7c4vw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Epipremnum’s aerial roots took in more nitrogen than the soil roots.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/focused-african-american-woman-tending-epipremnum-2244583755">DimaBerlin/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We are now exploring how and why this happens in more detail, but this could be because intense competition between neighbouring trees and shrubs in the plants’ original forest habitat strip soil of its nutrients. Being able to catch nutrients from decomposing leaf litter as they run down stems can thus be an advantage. The soil roots of some tropical trees even grow <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.235.4792.1062">up the trunks</a> of neighbouring trees.</p>
<p>This suggests that we could be caring for these houseplants all wrong. We tend to ignore their aerial roots when all we need to do is give these roots a good spray with a liquid fertiliser. This will run down the aerial roots towards the stems and into the soil, making sure the soil roots are not neglected entirely.</p>
<p>Houseplants, particularly aroids, are a feature of many of our homes. But to fully experience their benefits, these indoor plants must be healthy. This may involve changing how we look after them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Rasmussen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research finds that some common houseplants take in nutrients from outside the soil.Amanda Rasmussen, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1993222023-02-14T13:42:29Z2023-02-14T13:42:29ZZimbabwe’s budget plans open door for growth. But only if high interest rates don’t derail them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508579/original/file-20230207-31-eqgvux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A food vendor in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The rise in food prices has begun to ease in the country.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Zinyange Auntony/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube presented the national budget for 2023 to Parliament in <a href="http://www.zimtreasury.gov.zw/?page_id=2777">November 2022</a>, he placed high emphasis on a raft of initiatives designed to spur strong economic growth and unleash economic transformation. These included financing of infrastructure projects, education, health, value chains and other public investments.</p>
<p>At that time, Ncube’s budget plans ran the risk of being derailed by ultra-high interest rates which had led to a spike in the cost of borrowing for businesses and consumers.</p>
<p>The risk has since been reduced after the central bank lowered the benchmark interest rate following the weakening of inflationary pressures. Nonetheless, leading business associations in the country remain concerned that current interest rates are still very high.</p>
<p>Like many other countries around the world, Zimbabwe raised interest rates – known as monetary policy tightening – after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent prices of essential imported commodities such as wheat, fuel, and fertiliser soaring. The price hikes amplified <a href="https://theconversation.com/inflation-is-spiking-in-zimbabwe-again-why-high-interest-rates-arent-the-answer-187362">pre-existing</a> inflationary pressures that were decades in the making. These were the culmination of lax monetary policy and de-anchored inflation expectations. Expectations become de-anchored when prices no longer match what people would normally expect to pay. Once expectations for high inflation become entrenched, they are very hard to reverse.</p>
<p>Interest rates were hiked to 200% in June 2022. The annual reading on inflation was <a href="https://www.rbz.co.zw/">244%</a> in December – down from <a href="https://www.rbz.co.zw/index.php/monetary-policy/monetary-policy-committee-statements">285%</a> in August. </p>
<p>Inflation is falling, which helps to explain why the monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe lowered the benchmark interest rate to <a href="https://www.rbz.co.zw/index.php/monetary-policy/monetary-policy-committee-statements">150%</a> from <a href="https://www.rbz.co.zw/index.php/monetary-policy/monetary-policy-committee-statements">200%</a> after its most recent <a href="https://www.rbz.co.zw/index.php/monetary-policy/monetary-policy-committee-statements">meeting</a> in February.</p>
<p>Global food price pressures underpinning the surge in inflation have been showing signs of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-06/world-food-prices-end-year-where-they-started-after-dramatic-run?cmpid=BBD010623_TRADE&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=230106&utm_campaign=trade">easing</a> for some time now. </p>
<p>If food prices do continue trending down, inflation will come down much further and aid the central bank’s efforts to reduce interest rates. A slowdown in price rises, combined with the shift to less aggressive rate hikes, is good news for the minister’s budget initiatives on growth.</p>
<h2>Food price pressures show signs of easing</h2>
<p>There are three signs that food inflation pressures could be easing. First, a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-06/world-food-prices-end-year-where-they-started-after-dramatic-run?cmpid=BBD010623_TRADE&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=230106&utm_campaign=trade">United Nations gauge</a> tracking global food commodity costs declined for the last nine months of 2022, and could potentially return to levels last seen before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine if this trend continues in 2023. </p>
<p>Other commodity prices will likely ease too as countries diversify supply to shield against any future supply chain disruptions. </p>
<p>Second, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-01/top-fertilizer-firm-nutrien-sees-shortfall-on-russia-and-belarus-woes?cmpid=BBD010623_TRADE&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=230106&utm_campaign=trade">fertiliser prices have been falling</a> for the past few months and ended 2022 at levels not seen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ukraine/The-Russian-invasion-of-Ukraine">on 24 February 2022</a>. </p>
<p>Lastly, the country is expecting agricultural output to be boosted by a <a href="http://www.zimtreasury.gov.zw/?page_id=2777">favourable rainfall season</a> this year.</p>
<p>This should also help to bring down domestic food prices.</p>
<p>These signs offer some cause for cautious optimism, though risks remain that can upend the downward trend in world food prices. Disruption of the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-11-18/supply-chain-latest-ukraine-grain-deal-eases-food-supply-fears">Black Sea grain-export deal</a> amid war in Ukraine and adverse supply shocks to global commodity markets are among the key potential risks.</p>
<h2>Risks of elevated interest rates</h2>
<p>Elevated interest rates from monetary policy tightening trigger a jump in the cost of borrowing for businesses. This happened in Zimbabwe in the aftermath of the world’s most aggressive central bank policy tightening in <a href="https://www.rbz.co.zw/documents/press/2023/February/MPS_February_2023.pdf">June 2022</a>. </p>
<p>According to the two largest industry and commerce business groups in the country – Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce – the dramatic surge in the cost of borrowing tightened corporate credit conditions, raised production costs, and strained business investment. They are calling for the central bank to downshift to rate hikes between <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/industry-wants-interest-rates-reduced/">80% and 100%</a> so that borrowing costs do not rise so high that businesses must halt production. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/zimbabwe/overview">World Bank</a> also joined the chorus of concern that higher interest rates had crimped investment in the country.</p>
<p>Higher borrowing costs also pushed down spending by households, adding to the disquiet over inflation and collapsing living standards. A <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-11/zimbabwe-doctors-nurses-barred-from-long-strikes-under-new-law#xj4y7vzkg">new law</a> barring health workers from going on strike for an extended period of time underscores how the government is choosing to react to the cost-of-living squeeze on household budgets. </p>
<p>Less household spending means less revenue for firms, and less revenue for firms means more job losses in a country where it is estimated that up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-informal-sector-organisations-in-zimbabwe-shape-notions-of-citizenship-180455">90%</a> of Zimbabweans are working in the informal economy.</p>
<p>Lastly, the negative impact of high interest rates on the labour market is a concern. Aggressive rate hikes would only serve to further crush the labour market.</p>
<p>The dual drags on business investment and consumer spending combined with the labour market pain imply that it would have been very challenging for the economy to grow – in spite of the well-intentioned new public investment initiatives.</p>
<h2>Policy moves ahead</h2>
<p>The proposed public investment expenditures that were unveiled in the national budget have the potential to accelerate economic growth and usher in a new era of structural transformation. With falling interest rates and inflation, the potential growth benefits of higher public investment will be amplified by the positive impact on business investment, consumer spending and the labour market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199322/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Munemo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A slowdown in price rises, combined with the shift to less aggressive rate hikes, is good news for the minister’s budget initiatives on growth.Jonathan Munemo, Professor of Economics, Salisbury UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989032023-02-08T08:48:18Z2023-02-08T08:48:18ZPulses are packed with goodness: Five cool things you should know about them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508577/original/file-20230207-19-vtdp97.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">pbd Studio/shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year on February 10, the United Nations commemorates what probably sounds to many like a strange occasion: <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-pulses-day">World Pulses Day</a>. </p>
<p>But, as a researcher focused on <a href="https://www.slcu.cam.ac.uk/people/nadia-radzman">forgotten and underutilised legumes</a>, I think the initiative is an important step towards food security. Getting people to eat more pulses can ultimately help achieve <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/">UN Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger</a>.</p>
<p>First, for clarification, “legumes” and “pulses” have different meanings. “Legumes” are all plants belong to the family <em>Leguminosae</em> or <em>Fabaceae</em>, while “pulses” are the dried seeds of legume plants. Pulses include beans, lentils and chickpeas.</p>
<p>One reason that legume plants offer such promise in ending hunger is that they don’t need good soil or nitrogen fertilisers. Plants need nitrogen to build important molecules such as protein and DNA. Most legumes can thrive in poor soil by fixing nitrogen gas from the air for their own use. This happens through symbiotic interaction with friendly bacteria known as rhizobia. The rhizobia are housed inside structures called nodules on the plant’s roots.</p>
<p>Thanks to their nitrogen-fixing ability, pulses are nutritional powerhouses: high in protein and fibre, and low in fat. </p>
<p>But that’s not the only interesting thing about legumes and pulses. In honour of World Pulses Day 2023, I would like to highlight five pulses that have unique properties and stories.</p>
<h2>1. The African yam bean: high protein beans and underground tubers</h2>
<p>The African yam bean (<em>Sphenostylis stenocarpa</em>) offers two servings of food: beans and underground tubers. The tubers have higher protein content than any non-legume tuber crops like potato and cassava, and the beans are also high in protein. Their nutritional value was proved <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4613-0433-3_18">during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970)</a> when the beans were cooked with amaranthus, telfaria or cassava leaves to feed the malnourished in war-affected areas.</p>
<p>This crop is native to Africa and was <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02866625">once grown across the African continent</a>. Researchers have proposed that it may have been <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02866626">domesticated multiple times in west and central Africa</a>. Today, it is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402032301X">mostly grown as security or subsistence crop</a>, rather than commercially. But its high protein content and drought tolerance are attracting increasing interest.</p>
<h2>2. Common bean: diversity and environmental versatility</h2>
<p>The common bean (<em>Phaseolus vulgaris</em>) comes in many varieties around the world. Examples are black beans, red kidney beans and pinto beans – they look different but they are the same species. What’s special about them is that they can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1024199013926">pair with a larger number of rhizobial species</a> than <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00945/full">other legumes</a> can. This may have helped the common bean to thrive outside its native land and diversify in various habitats around the world. It’s able to fix nitrogen in different environments, making it a resilient legume species.</p>
<h2>3. Pea: a role in early understanding of genetics</h2>
<p>The pea (<em>Pisum sativum</em>) is among the oldest domesticated crops in the world. It contributed to the understanding of genetics, thanks to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gregor-Mendel">Gregor Mendel’s</a> famous <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/gregor-mendel-and-the-principles-of-inheritance-593/">experiment</a> with pea plants. Mendel observed the way that different physical properties of the pea plants were inherited: pod shape, seed shape, seed colour, unripe pod colour, flower colour, stem length, and flower placement. He crossed two pea plants that had different properties and observed the seven traits in the subsequent generations for two years. From this experiment, he established <a href="http://www.dnaftb.org/1/bio.html">Mendel’s Rules of Inheritance</a> – still applicable in modern day genetic study. </p>
<p>The rich genetic diversity of the pea is also <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/2/2/74">a valuable resource for important crop traits</a> that can withstand various weather conditions due to climate change.</p>
<h2>4. Chickpea: built for drought</h2>
<p>Many pulses are drought tolerant and use less water for production than animal-sourced proteins, especially beef. Chickpea (<em>Cicer arietinum</em>) is known to be <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.01759/full">highly drought tolerant</a>. Most of this crop is grown under rainfed conditions in arid and semi-arid areas. This special ability to grow where water is scarce is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10722-006-9197-y">more prominent in wild species of chickpea</a>. Wild chickpeas can also tolerate temperatures up to 40°C – another valuable genetic resource for better drought tolerance in modern chickpeas. </p>
<p>Still, chickpea yield is highly compromised when there is lack of water. Therefore, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-019-0401-3">scientists are looking for beneficial traits</a> that can reduce the yield loss in chickpeas during drought. This may contribute to a more secure food source in the midst of climate change.</p>
<h2>5. Lupins: special cluster roots to seek nutrients</h2>
<p>White lupins (<em>Lupinus albus</em>), yellow lupins (<em>Lupinus luteus</em>) and pearl lupins (<em>Lupinus mutabilis</em>) can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:PLSO.0000016544.18563.86">form special roots</a> to get more nutrients without the need for additional fertilisers. Plants need not only nitrogen but phosphorus. Usually it’s given to plants in fertiliser to increase crop yield. <a href="https://extension.umn.edu/phosphorus-and-potassium/understanding-phosphorus-fertilizers#process-619211">Phosphate fertiliser is made from phosphate rock</a> –- a non-renewable resource which is rapidly depleting through agricultural use. The white, yellow, and pearl lupins have unique root modifications called cluster roots that can liberate phosphorus from soil particles when the nutrient is low. These roots <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11104-004-2725-7">look like bottlebrush</a> and are formed only when the level of phosphorus in the soil is low. These cluster roots <a href="https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/110/2/329/2769292">exude negatively charged compound called carboxylate</a> that can liberate phosphorus from the soil and make it available for the plant to use. So lupins do not have to rely on phosphate fertilisers and can even help neighbouring plants by increasing the phosphorus level in the soil.</p>
<h2>Food security</h2>
<p>Pulses deserve our attention not just on February 10 but every day. The five pulses I’ve presented here can serve as sustainable protein sources and make food systems more diverse. They can greatly contribute to better food security in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198903/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nadia Radzman is a research associate at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University that receives funding from the Gatsby Foundation. She is the co-chair of Cambridge University Food Security Society and a steering committee member of the Cambridge Global Food Security interdisciplinary research centre.</span></em></p>Pulses are important for many reasons. They are packed with nutrition, resilient and crucial for achieving food security in Africa.Nadia Radzman, Research Associate in Plant Biology, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965692022-12-22T19:08:22Z2022-12-22T19:08:22ZPalm kernel product imported for use on dairy farms may actually be harmful to cows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502499/original/file-20221222-23-2fjp6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C49%2C5476%2C3590&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Sheryl Watson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year, New Zealand imports about 2 million tonnes of palm kernel expeller (<a href="https://www.dairynz.co.nz/feed/supplements/palm-kernel-extract-pke/">PKE</a>), a by-product of palm-oil processing in Indonesia and Malaysia, to feed dairy cows, at a cost of NZ$800 million. </p>
<p>But our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/23/15752">research</a> shows PKE contains concentrations of some elements that may be harmful to cows. </p>
<p>We analysed the chemical composition of several batches of PKE imported into New Zealand over two years. We found it contained concentrations of iron, magnesium and phosphorus that exceeded safe levels for dairy cattle health. Some batches contained concentrations of aluminium, copper, sulphur and potassium within 90% of their safe limits. </p>
<p>These elements may have both positive and negative effects on the health of dairy cows and soils. But there is no monitoring and our research shows the chemical composition of different batches imported into New Zealand is highly variable. </p>
<p>Copper in PKE may be helpful in treating <a href="https://www.fertiliser.org.nz/includes/download.ashx?ID=153081">widespread deficiencies</a> of this element in New Zealand’s farming systems. Similarly, magnesium in PKE may offset the <a href="https://actavetscand.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1751-0147-43-1">need to supplement this element</a> for lactating dairy cows. </p>
<p>PKE may be a source of fertilising nutrients into soils. It contains high concentrations of phosphorus, which will improve pasture growth when deposited on the soil in animals’ manure.</p>
<p>However, the concentrations of iron, aluminium, potassium and sulphur in PKE may cause nutrient imbalances in dairy cows. The actual effects on dairy farms, soils and milk are yet unknown. Other <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23316417/">evidence</a> suggests these chemical elements, when eaten by cows, may <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11467824/">end up in milk</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/11-000-litres-of-water-to-make-one-litre-of-milk-new-questions-about-the-freshwater-impact-of-nz-dairy-farming-183806">11,000 litres of water to make one litre of milk? New questions about the freshwater impact of NZ dairy farming</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>PKE in the New Zealand environment</h2>
<p>Currently, <a href="https://environment.govt.nz/acts-and-regulations/freshwater-implementation-guidance/freshwater-farm-plans/">environmental regulations</a> require farmers to quantify every input to their farms in order to meet nutrient budgets to stay within freshwater quality standards. When the composition of PKE changes batch by batch, it becomes very difficult to quantify farm inputs and meet farm-nutrient budgets.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fonterra.com/nz/en/our-stories/media/fat-evaluation-index-grading-system-to-begin-september-2018.html">Fonterra</a> and <a href="https://www.synlait.com/news/synlait-commits-to-a-sustainable-future-with-bold-targets/">Synlait</a>, two of New Zealand’s largest dairy companies, actively discourage the use of PKE because it can <a href="https://doi.org/10.4314/sajas.v47i2.14">change milk composition</a>, giving it a higher fat content. </p>
<p>However, it remains widely used due to feed shortages. Potentially, PKE use could be offset by reusing some of the more than 2 million tonnes of food and food-processing waste New Zealand produces annually.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Workers on a palm oil plantation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502504/original/file-20221222-22-ijiv1h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palm kernel expeller is a by-product of palm oil processing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Yogie Hizkia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Palm oil production</h2>
<p>Even if PKE were proven to be beneficial to New Zealand agriculture, there is still the ethical question of whether New Zealand should be supporting an industry with unsustainable production patterns.</p>
<p>The production of palm oil has been <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/125012/meta">linked to</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159668">deforestation</a> in tropical rainforests in Indonesia, as more and more land is needed to produce this increasingly common commodity used in everyday foods and personal-care products. </p>
<p>Even when PKE is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil – a certification program for palm oil growers, suppliers and users – <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1704728114">research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac6f4">has shown</a> this palm oil is no different to any other in terms of social, environmental and economic outcomes for people and the environment. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-papua-forests-offer-more-economic-benefits-than-oil-palm-plantations-research-finds-130708">In Papua, forests offer more economic benefits than oil palm plantations, research finds</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Palm oil plantation next to rainforest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502506/original/file-20221222-23-46ewr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=861&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The production of palm oil has been linked to deforestation in tropical rainforests in Indonesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Rich Carey</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/top-court-holds-indonesian-government-liable-over-2015-forest-fires/?fbclid=IwAR2aLmWFEMkgzrklP9_KMAx-S34Grrhi8DokED76drtlU13-unlqAgqLu0o">2015</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/indonesia-province-shuts-schools-haze-fires-returns-191014110403074.html">2019</a>, Indonesia gained media attention for forest fires to clear land for palm oil production, resulting in air pollution in neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/08/81-of-indonesias-oil-palm-plantations-flouting-regulations-audit-finds/">audit</a> by the Indonesian government in 2018 found 81% of palm oil plantations were breaching environmental regulations. Breaches included failing to obtain permits, not complying with sustainability standards and encroachment into surrounding protected forests. </p>
<p>New Zealand’s support of this industry is controversial, especially when there are potential alternatives.</p>
<h2>Possible alternatives to PKE</h2>
<p>New Zealand imports more PKE than the European Union. There are possible alternatives made in New Zealand that currently end up in landfill, including biowaste from the food and beverage sector. This waste includes leftover products from potato processing, wine making, brewing and other food-processing industries.</p>
<p>By importing PKE, New Zealand is forgoing the opportunity to use these locally produced waste materials as animal feeds and to avoid greenhouse gas emissions produced when they are sent to the landfill. </p>
<p>There is an opportunity here to repurpose food waste and the nutrients it contains for New Zealand’s primary sector. This is the subject of <a href="https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news/2021/new-kiwi-research-to-turn-biowaste-into-economic-boost-.html">ongoing research</a> at the University of Canterbury, Lincoln University, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research and ESR.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hadee Thompson-Morrison received funding from the Centre for Integrated Biowaste Research funded by the Strategic Science Investment Funding from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, New Zealand (contract C03X1701). She is affiliated with Darwin Animal Doctors and Sumatra Community & Conservation Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Gaw previously received funding from Auckland Regional Council, Tasman District Council and Waikato Regional Council to investigate accumulation of trace elements in agricultural soils.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Several batches of palm kernel product imported for dairy farms contained certain chemicals above a safe limit – and there’s an ethical quandary in supporting an industry linked with deforestation.Hadee Thompson-Morrison, PhD Candidate in Environmental Science, University of CanterburyBrett Robinson, Professor of Environmental Chemistry, University of CanterburySally Gaw, Director of Environmental Science, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1969552022-12-21T15:09:06Z2022-12-21T15:09:06ZUkraine war: Moscow and Kyiv are talking – just not about peace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502360/original/file-20221221-22-c4lsor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C4897%2C3058&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Common ground: back-channel negotiations have succeeded in brokering deals including over grain exports.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">vchal via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>At the G20 summit in Bali in November, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky announced a new <a href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayina-zavzhdi-bula-liderom-mirotvorchih-zusil-yaksho-rosi-79141">ten-point plan</a> to end hostilities. He demands nothing less than the withdrawal of Russian troops from all of Ukraine, including Crimea and other areas of the country occupied by the Russians since 2014. And the latest <a href="https://ratinggroup.ua/en/research/ukraine/v_dbudova_ukra_ni_ta_m_zhnarodna_dopomoga_20-21_listopada_2022.html?fbclid=IwAR323UcPid-Q2oswvjApSiA3iSHPc_8QdOjF0m-xb0bfwaIRrOAfKzjRH38">polls</a> show 85% of Ukrainians support his uncompromising stand.</p>
<p>But Russia’s position is as unyielding. Vladimir Putin is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/09/putin-shelling-ukraine-power-grid-russia-president-strikes-energy-infrastructure">adamant</a> that any political settlement will be based on “the realities that are taking shape on the ground”. Moscow wants to force Ukraine to recognise Russia’s occupation of nearly 20% of its territory. </p>
<p>Far from any peace talks, Ukrainian generals are <a href="https://www.economist.com/ukraines-fateful-winter">worried</a> about a new Russian offensive. But this doesn’t mean the two sides are not talking.</p>
<p>There have been back-channel talks on a whole range of issues, brokered by mediators from Turkey, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Oligarchs such as Roman Abramovich have been playing an unofficial role. Abu Dhabi and Ankara are the Helsinki and Vienna of this new cold war – cities where Russian, Ukrainian and western diplomats, businesspeople and spies can easily meet away from media scrutiny. </p>
<h2>Nuclear security</h2>
<p>The toughest negotiation has been over nuclear security. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been mediating talks to establish a “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-iaea-russia-idAFR4N32S01N">protection zone</a>” around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia occupied the plant early in the war and has attempted to annexe the whole region after a sham referendum in September. Ukraine rejects these claims – as does most of the Ukrainian workforce at the plant. </p>
<p>But they are now on the frontline of the war. In November, Grossi called an outbreak of shelling around the plant “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/21/un-calls-for-end-to-madness-of-attacks-on-zaporizhzhia-plant">madness</a>”. Russia claims that Ukraine has been firing recklessly on the plant and mounting raids to try to recapture it. Ukraine claims that Russia uses the plant as cover to fire on Ukrainian forces. </p>
<p>In early December, there were <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/12/03/packing-their-bags">rumours</a> of a potential deal – but the two sides differ on what a “protective zone” means. Ukraine wants a full withdrawal of Russian forces and personnel. The G7 backed this position in a <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/g7-calls-for-return-of-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-to-ukraine-control/">statement</a> in October. But Russia fears that any further retreat will provoke nationalist ire at home and give Ukraine a platform for a new counteroffensive.</p>
<p>In early December, Grossi <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iaea-chief-hopes-find-solution-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant-by-year-end-2022-12-02/">told the press</a> that he hoped to negotiate a deal by the end of the year, but since then there has been little sign of progress. </p>
<h2>Fertiliser deals</h2>
<p>A second backroom discussion has been held on the <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/fertilizer-diplomacy-how-ammonia-could-hobble-black-sea-grain-deal-104134">fertiliser trade</a>, a critical problem for global food security. Russia is a major exporter of ammonia, the key ingredient in fertiliser. Prior to the war, the bulk of Russia’s exports travelled along an ageing Soviet-era pipeline from Tolyatti in central Russia to the Ukrainian port of Odesa.</p>
<p>The pipeline was <a href="https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2307380-ammonia-most-exposed-fertilizer-to-ukraine-conflict">closed</a> in February 2022 when the war broke out. But under a deal negotiated in July by Turkey and the UN, Russia agreed to allow exports of grain to resume from Ukrainian ports. As part of the deal, Russian ammonia exports were also to restart – but Ukraine refused to allow the pipeline to reopen. </p>
<p>The UN has held several meetings with both sides, and persuaded Russian and Ukrainian delegations to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-russians-ukrainians-met-uae-discuss-prisoner-swap-ammonia-sources-say-2022-11-24/">meet</a> on November 17 in Abu Dhabi. </p>
<p>The deal on the table is <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c617b4a1-3750-47cc-b4e6-fa963b572f1b">complicated</a>. It would involve a US company buying ammonia from the Russians at the Russian-Ukrainian border before reselling it on international markets. The stumbling block seems to be Ukraine’s demand for a major prisoner swap as the price to get the pipeline running again.</p>
<p>The EU did <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/fertilizer-row-holds-up-eu-latest-russia-ukraine-war-sanctions-package-famine-food-supplies/">relax</a> some sanctions against Russian fertiliser producers on December 15 to allow shipments to leave European ports. The move sparked protests from Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, and shows the difficult balance between a tight sanctions regime and global food security. But the Russian-Ukraine ammonia pipeline remains blocked.</p>
<h2>Prisoner swaps</h2>
<p>Talks on prisoner exchanges have been more successful. Turkey and Saudi Arabia were both involved in <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-prisoner-swaps-have-been-going-on-for-centuries-heres-how-they-work-191880">negotiating a major exchange</a> of 300 POWs in September. Despite the political rhetoric on both sides, ideology is largely absent from the prisoner swaps. </p>
<p>Instead, there is ruthless bargaining. In the September deal, 215 Ukrainian soldiers returned home compared with just 55 Russians. But the Ukrainians had an ace card: Putin’s Ukrainian crony <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/22/ukrainian-putin-ally-viktor-medvedchuk-exchanged-for-200-azov-battalion-fighters-zelenskiy-says">Viktor Medvedchuk</a>, who was facing treason charges after being captured early in the war. And there were some smart compromises: commanders from Ukraine’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azov_Regiment">Azov regiment</a> were released on condition that they sit out the war in Turkey. </p>
<p>Since then, there have been regular swaps. By December 7, Ukraine <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/07/ukraine-russia-pows-exchange-prisoners/">reported</a> that 817 Ukrainian prisoners had been released since September. A further <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-12-14-22/h_ab22b98b8d6010dfce17796c3b48e5b3">65 Ukrainians and a US citizen</a> returned home on December 15. </p>
<p>Some see this as hope for wider talks. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/red-cross-chief-major-prisoner-swap-deal-is-option-russia-ukraine-war-2022-12-14/">pointed out</a> that such exchanges sometimes lead to wider agreements. But there are more prosaic reasons driving the exchanges too. Prisoner swaps save money for both sides, and give them leverage for talks on other issues. </p>
<p>None of these backroom deals suggest that peace talks will come any time soon. While Putin continues to seek the destruction of the Ukrainian state, there is little prospect of a genuine peace deal. But they do show that both sides have informal channels for negotiations. These might be the best hope for now to avoid dangerous escalation, and to mitigate some of the worst impacts of the war on ordinary people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lewis has received funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Economic and Social Research Council and the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies. He is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. </span></em></p>For now there is little hope of a peace deal, but back-channel agreements show that Ukraine and Russia are at least talking.David Lewis, Professor, International Politics, University of ExeterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1965382022-12-16T15:48:40Z2022-12-16T15:48:40ZPhosphorus supply is increasingly disrupted – we are sleepwalking into a global food crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501356/original/file-20221215-18-61v94h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5751%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">oticki / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Without phosphorus food cannot be produced, since all plants and animals need it to grow. Put simply: if there is no phosphorus, there is no life. As such, phosphorus-based fertilisers – it is the “P” in “NPK” fertiliser – have become critical to the global food system. </p>
<p>Most phosphorus comes from non-renewable phosphate rock and it cannot be synthesised artificially. All farmers therefore need access to it, but 85% of the world’s remaining high-grade phosphate rock is concentrated in just five countries (some of which are “geopolitically complex”): Morocco, China, Egypt, Algeria and South Africa. </p>
<p>Seventy per cent is found in <a href="https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/agriculture-investing/phosphate-investing/top-phosphate-countries-by-production/">Morocco alone</a>. This makes the global food system extremely vulnerable to disruptions in the phosphorus supply that can lead to sudden price spikes. For example, in 2008 the price of phosphate fertilisers rocketed 800%.</p>
<p>At the same time, phosphorus use in food production is extremely inefficient, from mine to farm to fork. It runs off agricultural land into rivers and lakes, polluting water which in turn can kill fish and plants, and make water too toxic to drink. </p>
<p>In the UK alone, less than half of the 174,000 tonnes of imported phosphate are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479722005941?via%3Dihub">actually used productively to grow food</a>, with similar phosphorus efficiencies measured <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-019-01255-1">throughout the EU</a>. Consequently, the planetary boundaries (the Earth’s “safe space”) for the amount of phosphorus flow into water systems <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/6/1/014009">have long been transgressed</a>.</p>
<p>Unless we fundamentally transform the way we use phosphorus, any supply disruption will cause a global food crisis since most countries are largely dependent on imported fertilisers. Using phosphorus in a smarter way, including using more recycled phosphorus, would also help already stressed rivers and lakes. </p>
<p>We are currently experiencing the third major phosphate fertiliser price spike in 50 years, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, China (the biggest exporter) imposing <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/china-fertilizers-quotas-idUSKBN2OQ0KY">export tariffs</a>, and Russia (one of top five producers) banning exports and then invading Ukraine. Since the start of the pandemic, fertiliser prices have risen steeply and at one point had quadrupled within two years. They are still at their <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/37223/CMO-April-2022-special-focus.pdf">highest levels since 2008</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph of global phosphate prices since 1970" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501533/original/file-20221216-22499-bhmjst.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prices spiked in 2008 and again over the past year. DAP and TSP are two of the main fertilisers extracted from phosphate rock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dana Cordell; data: World Bank</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stop ignoring phosphorus</h2>
<p>Despite its critical importance, there is no comprehensive global framework for phosphorus governance. It is largely ignored in international policy discussions, and in countries where phosphorus regulation does exist, it is often dated and fails to address food security. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram of phosphorus use" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501542/original/file-20221216-11363-qlu8jq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=986&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How phosphorus goes from mine to food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Phosphorus Transformation Strategy</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Policies have generally focused on removing phosphorus from wastewater to prevent water pollution or encouraging farmers to fertilise fields with phosphorus-rich animal manure or to use less phosphorus in the first place. These are fine, but they are piecemeal and ignore important inefficiencies at other stages in the food supply chain, for example in producing fertiliser, or in food processing or arising from our <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9271/meta">dietary choices</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/time-for-policy-action-on-global-phosphorus-security-5594">For more than a decade</a>, scientists have been warning that if no one takes responsibility for ensuring phosphorus security, further disruptions in its supply can have major consequences for the food system. Vulnerable farmers could be pushed to the brink and global crop yields severely reduced. We are essentially sleepwalking into a food crisis.</p>
<h2>The first comprehensive national strategy</h2>
<p>But there is still time to wake up. We have put together the first ever <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7404622">UK National Phosphorus Transformation Strategy</a> to help guide the country away from its current unsustainable situation. If the UK government and institutions were to adopt this strategy, we hope it could trigger a broader transformation elsewhere.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="boxes with words and images" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501531/original/file-20221216-32459-xer2tt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What the strategy hopes to achieve.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK Phosphorus Transformation Strategy</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Surprisingly, despite being almost entirely dependent on imported phosphorus in fertilisers and animal feed, our team’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479722005941?via%3Dihub">research</a> shows the UK theoretically has enough phosphorus already circulating in the food system: 90,000 tonnes per year of “legacy phosphorus” accumulate in agricultural soils, 26,000 tonnes per year leak into water bodies and 22,000 tonnes are sent to landfill and construction. These hotspots of phosphorus inefficiency and loss represent a critical resource, which could instead be used productively. </p>
<p>The strategy identifies six phosphorus priority pathways that can turn that around, ranging from the development of innovative technologies to financial incentives for industry and engaging communities in the changes needed. </p>
<p>This includes things like supporting the roll-out of “biodigesters” to process bulky animal manures and food wastes into concentrated and nutrient-rich fertilisers that can be more cost-effectively transported across the country to crop production areas. Or harmonising national policies to incentivise both phosphorus removal to prevent pollution, and stimulate the productive reuse of phosphorus-rich wastes for farmers. </p>
<p>The good news is that some of these actions are already underway at a small scale. If they are scaled up and others are introduced and become part of mainstream operations, then the UK’s phosphorus system can become more resilient. For that to happen, we need the commitment of all sectors involved and we need to address the issues in an integrated and collaborative way. </p>
<p>Importantly, the strategy has been developed after extensive consultation with farmers, regulators, policy-makers, food producers, wastewater companies and environmental managers. This should give us the confidence that change is possible.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RDhC1zeB350?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Phosphorus and the UK food system: a video made by Seed in collaboration with the authors.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Phosphorus Transformation Strategy was produced as part of the RePhoKUs project (The role of phosphorus in the sustainability and resilience of the UK food system) funded by BBSRC, ESRC, NERC, and the Scottish Government under the UK Global Food Security research programme (Grant No. BB/R005842/1). RePhoKUs project was led by Lancaster University with the University of Leeds, the University of Technology Sydney AFBI, UK CEH.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brent Jacobs receives funding from the UK Research Councils (BBSRC, ESRC, NERC), the Scottish Government, the European Union, and the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dana Cordell receives funding from the UK Research Councils (BBSRC, ESRC, NERC), the Scottish Government, the European Union, and the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>This crucial fertiliser component is mostly found in just five countries.Julia Martin-Ortega, Professor, Sustainability Research Insitute. Associate Director water@leeds, University of LeedsBrent Jacobs, Research Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyDana Cordell, Associate Professor, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1959332022-12-10T05:52:03Z2022-12-10T05:52:03ZClimate crisis in Africa exposes real cause of hunger – colonial food systems that leave people more vulnerable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499297/original/file-20221206-8597-1i0jaw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zawadi Msafiri is seen in a withered maize crop field in Kilifi County, Kenya. The drought situation started in 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Dong Jianghui/Xinhua via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the waning hours of the year’s biggest climate change conference – COP27 – we learned of a deal to create a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/countries-agree-loss-damage-fund-final-cop27-deal-elusive-2022-11-20/">loss and damage fund</a>. This is essentially a source of finance to compensate poor countries for the pain they are incurring because of climate change. An often-cited example of such suffering is the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa region, which has put some <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/november-2022/horn-africa-extreme-drought-deepens-hunger-region-facing-conflict">22 million people</a> at risk of severe hunger. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.undp.org/press-releases/statement-un-development-programme-administrator-achim-steiner-outcome-cop27-climate-negotiations">some</a> have heralded this agreement as long overdue <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/at-cop-27-joy-over-loss-and-damage-fund-is-tempered-by-reality-104497">climate reparations</a>, <a href="https://www.wri.org/news/statement-breakthrough-cop27-establishes-fund-aid-vulnerable-countries-facing-severe-climate?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=worldresources&utm_term=91a1d58e-bf89-4ceb-b8d4-863c6a3e917d&utm_content=&utm_campaign=cop27">others</a> point out that the loss and damage fund does nothing to address the root causes of climate change - fossil fuel emissions. </p>
<p>Here I seek to raise a different concern: this approach glosses over the fact that the types of food production systems that the global community has fostered in Africa leave the poorest more exposed and vulnerable to climatic variability and economic shocks. These food production systems refer to the ways people produce, store, process and distribute food, as well as the inputs into the system along the way.</p>
<p>Historically smallholder and women farmers have produced the lion’s share of food crops on the African continent. Over the past 60 years, global decision makers, big philanthropy, business interests and large swaths of the scientific community have focused on increased food production, trade, and energy intensive farming methods as the best way to address global and African hunger. </p>
<p>This approach to addressing hunger has failed to address food insecurity on the continent. Moderate to severe food insecurity affects nearly <a href="https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc0640en">60% of Africans today</a>. It’s also resulted in food systems that are now more vulnerable to climate change. </p>
<p>The idea that the solution is to produce more dates back to the colonial period. It’s bad for the global environment, highly vulnerable to climate and energy shocks, and does not feed the poorest of the poor.</p>
<p>I approach this topic as a nature-society geographer who has spent his career studying agricultural development approaches and food systems in west and southern Africa. Through this work, I have come to see agroecology as more accessible to the poorest.</p>
<h2>Vulnerable food systems</h2>
<p>Each time there has been a global food crisis, variations on the formula of increased agricultural production, trade and energy intensive farming methods have been the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2020.1823838">favoured solution</a>. These include the first Green Revolution of the 1960s-1970s, commodity production and trade in the 1980s-1990s, the New Green Revolution for Africa and public-private partnerships in the 2000s-2010s.</p>
<p>Many scholars now understand that food security has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919221001445">six dimensions</a>, of which only one is addressed by food production. </p>
<p>Looking at all six dimensions reveals the complex drivers of hunger. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>food availability - local production and net imports </p></li>
<li><p>access - the ability of households to acquire food that is available</p></li>
<li><p>utilisation - the cooking, water and sanitation facilities needed to prepare healthy food</p></li>
<li><p>stability of food prices and supplies over time</p></li>
<li><p>sustainability - the ability to produce food without undermining the resource base</p></li>
<li><p>agency – people’s ability to control their food systems, from production to consumption. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Decolonising African agriculture</h2>
<p>So, how did we get here?</p>
<p>Certain countries and businesses profit from productionist approaches to addressing hunger. These include, for example, Monsanto, which developed the herbicide <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jennifer-Clapp/publication/365767722_The_rise_of_big_food_and_agriculture_corporate_influence_in_the_food_system/links/63822891c2cb154d292d030b/The-rise-of-big-food-and-agriculture-corporate-influence-in-the-food-system.pdf">Round-Up</a>. Or the four companies (Archer-Daniels-Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus) that control <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/23/record-profits-grain-firms-food-crisis-calls-windfall-tax">70%-90% of the global grain trade</a>. </p>
<p>The productionist focus is also engrained in the agricultural sciences. Tropical agronomy, now known as “development agronomy”, was central to the colonial enterprise in Africa. The <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780429351105-3/political-agronomy-101-william-moseley">main objective for colonial powers</a> was to transform local food systems. This pushed many African households away from subsistence farming and the production of food for local markets. Instead, they moved towards the cultivation of commodity crops needed to fuel European economic expansion, such as cotton in Mali, coffee in Kenya, and cacao in Côte d'Ivoire.</p>
<p>While forced labour was employed in some instances, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/geography/geography-general-interest/peasant-cotton-revolution-west-africa-cote-divoire-18801995?format=PB&isbn=9780521788830">head taxes</a> became the preferred strategy in many cases for facilitating commodity crop production. Forced to pay such taxes in cash or face jail time, African farmers begrudgingly started to produce cash crops, or went to work on nearby plantations.</p>
<h2>Loss of risk management practices</h2>
<p>Accompanying the transition to commodity crop production was a gradual loss of risk management practices like storage of surplus grain. Many farmers and herders in Africa have had to deal with highly variable rainfall patterns for centuries. This makes them some of the foremost experts on climate change adaptation. Farmers would also plant a diverse range of crops with different rainfall requirements. Herders moved across large areas in search of the best pastures. </p>
<p>In the name of progress, colonial regimes often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41145912.pdf">encouraged herders to be less mobile throughout East Africa</a>. They also pushed farmers via taxation policies to store less grain in order to maximise commodity crop production. This opened up farmers to the full, deadly force of extended droughts, a <a href="https://ugapress.org/book/9780820344454/silent-violence/">situation that is well documented in northern Nigeria</a>.</p>
<p>Many problematic approaches have continued in the post-colonial period. </p>
<p>Various <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0905717107">international and national policies</a> and programmes have encouraged African farmers to produce more crops, <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/brownjwa23&id=479&collection=journals&index=">using</a> imported seeds, pesticides and fertilisers in the name of development or hunger alleviation. </p>
<p>Even though African farmers may be producing more, they are left exposed to the ravages of variable climatic conditions. </p>
<h2>Agroecology and the way forward</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ca5602en/ca5602en.pdf">Agroecologists</a> can offer a different way forward. They seek to understand the ecological interactions between different crops, crops and the soil and atmosphere, and crops and insect communities. They seek to maintain soil fertility, minimise predation from pests and grow more crops without using chemical inputs. </p>
<p>Agroecologists often collaborate with and learn from farmers who have developed such practices over time and are in tune with local ecologies. This combination of experiential knowledge and formal science training makes agroecology a more decolonial science. It is also more accessible to the poor because there’s no need to buy expensive inputs or risk becoming indebted when crops fail.</p>
<p>The fact that agroecological farming is <a href="https://www.pambazuka.org/food-health/corporate-take-over-african-food-security">less expensive</a> has not been lost on the business community. They would lose out substantially if conventional farming approaches were no longer associated with hunger alleviation. </p>
<p>Furthermore, those in the agricultural sciences who have supported productionist approaches to hunger alleviation also see agroecology as a threat as it could lead to a decline of prestige and research funding.</p>
<p>There are signs that the global community may be on the <a href="https://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/insights/news-insights/news-detail/Is-the-global-food-system-on-the-cusp-of-a-major-shift-/en">cusp of a major shift in thinking</a> with regard to food systems, climate change and hunger. </p>
<p>A global food crisis has led some to question why previous solutions have not worked. We also now have an emerging, more decolonial science of agroecology that is increasingly accepted within the <a href="https://ijsaf.org/index.php/ijsaf/article/view/27">United Nations system</a>. It’s backed by a powerful social movement that refused to back down when corporate agricultural interests tried to hijack the 2021 <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10806-022-09882-7">UN Food Systems Summit</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, there are also large institutional <a href="https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/global-food-nutrition-security/topic/agroecology_en">donors</a> experimenting with agroecological approaches, something almost unheard of a decade ago. </p>
<p>Lastly, there is a new set of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-021-10247-5">leaders</a> within some African governments who understand what agroecology offers.</p>
<p>The ravages of climate change and hunger do not occur in isolation, but are part of the system we have built. That means we can build something different. The current crisis lays bare this problem and the right combination of new ideas, resources and political will can solve it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William G. Moseley receives funding from the US National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>The ravages of climate change and hunger do not occur in isolation, but are part of the system we have built.William G. Moseley, DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography, Director of Food, Agriculture & Society Program, Macalester CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1867652022-08-23T16:11:19Z2022-08-23T16:11:19ZSulfuric acid: the next resource crisis that could stifle green tech and threaten food security<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478322/original/file-20220809-24-iuxmf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4214%2C2800&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sulfur-factory-yellow-pile-produced-industrial-333705221">SIAATH/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Without <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.301">sulfur</a> in the form of sulfuric acid, industries would struggle to produce the phosphorus fertilisers that raise farm yields or extract the <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions">essential metals</a> used in everything from solar panels to electric car batteries. </p>
<p>Yet a problem looms, which has gone largely unnoticed. <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/mcs2022">More than 80%</a> of the global sulfur supply is a waste product, extracted from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas (which typically contain between 1% and 3% sulfur by weight) to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, the gas that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01244-4">causes acid rain</a>.</p>
<p>Eliminating fossil fuels to rein in climate change will slash the annual supply of sulfuric acid just as demand is increasing. The world already uses over <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/mcs2022">246 million tonnes</a> of sulfuric acid annually. Rapid growth in the green economy and intensive agriculture could see demand rise to over 400 million tonnes by 2040.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geoj.12475">our latest study</a>, a rapid reduction in fossil fuel use required to achieve <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050">net zero emissions by 2050</a> could create a shortfall of sulfuric acid as large as 320 million tonnes by 2040, or 130% of present day production. </p>
<p>Sulfuric acid prices would rise, stoking competition in which more profitable green technology industries are likely to outbid fertiliser producers. This would increase the cost of food production and make food more expensive for consumers, especially in developing countries where farmers are least able to afford the higher costs.</p>
<h2>An essential industrial chemical</h2>
<p>Sulfur is found in <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/of02-298/">a wide range of products</a>, including tyres, sulfur fertiliser, paper, soap and detergent. But its most important application is in industrial chemistry, decomposing a wide range of materials.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph comparing the supply of sulfur and its cost per tonne." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480335/original/file-20220822-70347-e3lzru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Since 2008 especially, the price of sulfur has been closely linked to fossil fuel production.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geoj.12475">Maslin et al. (2022)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rapidly expanding use of low-carbon technologies, such as high-performance batteries, light-weight motors for vehicles, and solar panels, will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00325-9">significantly increase</a> mining of mineral deposits, particularly laterite ores that are increasingly important sources of cobalt and nickel. Cobalt demand could increase by 460%, nickel by 99%, and neodymium by 37% by 2050. All of these are currently extracted using large quantities of sulfuric acid. </p>
<p>At the same time, projected population growth and dietary trends will also drive an increase in demand for sulfuric acid from its single most important consumer: the phosphate fertiliser production industry. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph depicting predicted sulfuric acid demand and supply up to 2040." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/479610/original/file-20220817-12-oh4jry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sulfuric acid demand is set to soar just as sources are likely to shrink.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geoj.12475">Maslin et al. (2022)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/mcs2022">US Geological Survey</a> estimates that there is an almost limitless supply of sulfate minerals in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/evaporite">evaporites</a> (rocks laid down by the natural evaporation of shallow, salty seas or lakes) and large resources of iron sulfides and elemental sulfur in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12301421">volcanic deposits</a>, but accessing these would require expanding mining and mineral processing.</p>
<p>Converting sulfates to sulfur using current methods consumes a lot of energy and emits a lot of carbon. Sulfur mining and sulfide ore processing can pollute the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/min9070397">air, soil and water</a>, acidifying surface pools and aquifers and emitting toxins including arsenic, thallium and mercury. And there are always <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/27/mining-holds-the-key-to-a-green-future-no-wonder-human-rights-activists-are-worried">human rights issues</a> associated with intensive mining. </p>
<h2>Recycle and innovate</h2>
<p>In addition to finding new, non-fossil fuel sources of sulfur, demand for sulfur could be reduced by recycling and alternative industrial technologies that avoid intensive use of sulfuric acid.</p>
<p>Recycling phosphate from sewage and turning it into fertiliser would reduce the need for sulfuric acid to process phosphate rock for <a href="https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/gc/c4gc02445a">fertilisers</a>. This would also help to address <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jsustf/v2y2012i3-4p222-239.html">concerns</a> that, in the long term, the world will run out of phosphate rock. It would also reduce the amount of phosphorus entering <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/eutrophication-causes-consequences-and-controls-in-aquatic-102364466/">freshwater and coastal habitats</a>, which causes massive algal blooms that can suffocate other plants and fish.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1682-5">Recycling more lithium batteries</a> from electric vehicles could also help. Developing new batteries and motors that rely less on rare metals would reduce demand for sulfuric acid to extract metals from their ores. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.enelgreenpower.com/learning-hub/renewable-energies/storage">Wasting less renewable energy</a> (such as solar and wind) and storing more of it without the use of batteries that need these metals would cut sulfuric acid demand at the same time as it cuts demand for fossil fuels and speeds up decarbonisation. In the future, it may also be possible to produce large quantities of sulfur from sulfates by <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369703X08004087#:%7E:text=Sulphur%20disproportionation%2C%20carried%20out%20by,electron%20donor%20and%20electron%20acceptor.">culturing certain bacteria</a>.</p>
<p>By anticipating future sulfur shortages, national and international policies can manage future demand, increase recycling and develop alternative, cheap supplies which have minimal environmental and social costs.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Maslin is a Professor of Earth System Science at UCL and the Natural History Museum of Denmark. He is a Founding Director of Rezatec Ltd, Co-Director of The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership, a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee and a member of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. He is an unpaid member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board, Sheep Included Ltd and NetZeroNow Advisory Boards. He has received grant funding in the past from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, DFG, Royal Society, DIFD, BEIS, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Research England, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust, The Children's Investment Fund Foundation, Sprint2020, and British Council. He has received research funding in the past from The Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD, HP, and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Day does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A key ingredient for a green future is currently derived from fossil fuels.Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCLSimon Day, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868092022-08-02T14:08:41Z2022-08-02T14:08:41ZSubsidies for African farmers: we’ve designed a tool to guide spending decisions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475680/original/file-20220722-19-e8b83d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C26%2C4443%2C2926&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Algorithm can help farmers and governments make smart farming decisions.
Photo by Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/farmer-harvest-maize-from-his-farm-after-relocating-to-a-news-photo/1234769628?adppopup=true">from www,gettyimages.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the hardest decisions a government must make is who to support with the limited public funds at its disposal. In recent years the largest countries in sub-Saharan Africa have spent between <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919217308618">14% and 26%</a> of combined annual public expenditures on agriculture. </p>
<p>This reflects the fact that governments have prioritised access to fertiliser for rural smallholders.</p>
<p>The purpose of the programmes is to support smallholders so they can supply the growing food needs of the continent. However, governments’ budgets are limited and <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/fertilizer-prices-expected-remain-higher-longer#:%7E:text=Fertilizer%20prices%20have%20risen%20nearly,and%20export%20restrictions%20(China).">fertiliser prices are increasing</a>. </p>
<p>As fertiliser programmes become more costly, what should governments do? </p>
<p>In a recently <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00493-z">published paper</a> I set out to answer this question with two of my colleagues, Ellen McCullough at the University of Georgia and Julianne Quinn at the University of Virginia.</p>
<p>We designed a tool that can support decisions about fertiliser use across sub-Saharan Africa. We did this by focusing on a farmer’s internal rate of return from using fertiliser. The concept of a farmer’s returns is complicated because growing crops is inherently uncertain. Farmers must plant seeds and use fertiliser before they know how good the weather will be or what price they will get for their harvest.</p>
<p>Our model accommodates these complexities by applying machine learning algorithms to data on maize crop trials, weather and soil. </p>
<p>Our hope is that the support tool we have designed helps governments answer tough questions such as who to target – and how – when budgetary resources are limited. </p>
<p>We believe that better targeted policies can improve food security across the continent. </p>
<h2>What we built</h2>
<p>To model the yield response to fertiliser we compiled numerous maize trial data sets spanning 17 countries over 13 years and eight agroecological zones. </p>
<p>We matched all 21,000 of our trial observations with their corresponding growing conditions, like temperatures and precipitation in the months following planting. We also matched them with a newly available geospatial data set of soil characteristics (<a href="http://africasoils.net/">Africa Soil Information Service</a>). </p>
<p>Next, we modelled the yield response to these climate and site characteristics. We used this model to simulate the returns on investing in fertiliser across sub-Saharan Africa’s maize-growing regions. </p>
<p>We found that on average, use of fertiliser results in a 1,800 kg/ha increase in maize yields. But the response varied considerably from year to year and within and between locations. </p>
<p>Armed with these yield responses, we modelled site level farmer profitability across sub-Saharan Africa. The model simulated weather variables that influence maize yield response to fertiliser, and fertiliser and maize prices that influence profitability. </p>
<p>This allowed us to estimate how investing in fertiliser would affect returns in simulated years across maize-growing locations in sub-Saharan Africa. </p>
<h2>A decision support tool to assist policy makers</h2>
<p>Often, high-level decisions about fertiliser subsidies are made by looking at average profits. In other words, if an investment returns a certain amount over a span of years, it is an acceptable investment. </p>
<p>But we propose that decision makers view the decision differently. </p>
<p>We determined which regions were “robustly profitable”. We defined these as areas achieving at least a 30% return on investment in at least 70% of the years. (Decision makers could insert different thresholds into the model if they desired.) </p>
<p>These would be the regions where promoting fertiliser to smallholder farmers would make the most sense. </p>
<p>We compared these regions with those defined to be profitable based on a “naive” definition of an average of 30% over all years. This definition is commonly used in the literature and is often the basis of blanket fertiliser recommendations. But it ignores how frequently farmers may face returns below a threshold and therefore be unwilling to take on the risk of the investment.</p>
<p>In about 25% of locations in sub-Saharan Africa our “robust profitability” criteria produced a different profitability assessment than the business-as-usual approach of focusing on average returns. </p>
<p>But what about rising fertiliser prices?</p>
<p>We analysed sensitivity by changing each of the variables in the yield and profitability model. For example, we adjusted certain inputs, such as the price of fertiliser, pH of the soil and the amount of precipitation. </p>
<p>The purpose of an exercise like this is to understand which factors affect profitability the most. If changes in precipitation produce the greatest change in profitability at a particular site, then investments in irrigation may be the best policy for that location. </p>
<p>If soil characteristics are most limiting, then investing in soil health might be the most effective intervention. </p>
<p>In areas where the crop to fertiliser price ratio is the factor that controls profitability the most, subsidising fertilisers could be the most helpful policy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The African map" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=228&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475678/original/file-20220722-20-obarp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=287&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1: (a) Regions of sub-Saharan Africa where fertiliser adoption for maize is robustly profitable (rate of return exceeds 30% in at least 70% of simulated years), naively profitable (rate of return at least 30% on average over all simulated years), both, or neither. (b) Most important factor influencing fertiliser profitability for maize throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Figure 1b shows the geographic distribution of what factor was the most important for farmer profitability.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Figure adapted from McCullough et al. (2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many regions are most sensitive to prices (green in Figure 1b). But these tend to be the same regions that are already robustly profitable and probably don’t need additional fertiliser subsidies. </p>
<p>Regions that are never profitable (red areas in Figure 1a) tend to be the most sensitive to soil pH (orange in Figure 1b). Soil amendments – such as liming – may be the most effective policy response in these areas. </p>
<p>Precipitation does not show up as the most important factor in any region in Figure 1b. This is not to say that precipitation is not important. But, at sites where fertiliser use is never profitable, changes in soil variables could more readily influence profitability than changes in precipitation. </p>
<p>This may be due to the way soil variables interact with precipitation to influence maize yield response to fertiliser. Fortunately these effects can be achieved first by changing the soil rather than through irrigation. </p>
<p>Farming is a complicated and uncertain endeavour. The tool we designed helps decision makers juggle these complexities. Understanding which factors affect the robust profitability of farmers the most will – hopefully – lead to a better distribution of resources and food security outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research presented here was funded by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.</span></em></p>Algorithms can help determine what farm inputs and policies can boost food production.Andrew M. Simons, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Fordham University, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807972022-07-10T07:20:35Z2022-07-10T07:20:35ZMorocco - a top fertiliser producer - could hold a key to the world’s food supply<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457076/original/file-20220408-25087-8s385g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers fill bags with fertiliser in Morocco's northern city of Meknes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Morocco has a large fertiliser industry with huge production capacity and international reach. It is one of the world’s <a href="https://www.worldstopexports.com/top-fertilizers-exports-by-country/">top four</a> fertiliser exporters following Russia, China and Canada.</p>
<p>Fertilisers tend to divide into three main categories; nitrogen fertilisers, phosphorus fertilisers, potassium fertilisers. In 2020 the fertiliser market size <a href="https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/fertilizer-market">was about</a> US$190 billion.</p>
<p>Morocco has distinct advantage in the production of phosphorus fertilisers. It possesses <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/681747/phosphate-rock-reserves-by-country/">over</a> 70% of the world’s phosphate rock reserves, from which the phosphorus used in fertilisers is derived. And this makes Morocco a gatekeeper of global food supply chains because all food crops require the element phosphorus to grow. Indeed, so does all plant life. Unlike other finite resources, such as fossil fuels, there is no alternative to phosphorus.</p>
<p>In 2021, the global phosphorus fertiliser market amounted to <a href="https://brandessenceresearch.com/chemical-and-materials/phosphate-fertilizers-market-size">about</a> US$59 billion. In Morocco, the sector’s 2020 revenues amounted to <a href="https://ocpsiteprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/media/2021-08/OCP-Sustainability_report_2020-GRI_certified.pdf">US$5.94 billion</a>. Office Chérifien des Phosphates, the producer owned by the Moroccan state, accounted for <a href="https://www.fitchratings.com/research/corporate-finance/fitch-revises-outlook-on-ocp-to-stable-affirms-at-bb-28-10-2020">about 20%</a> of the kingdom’s export revenues. It is also the country’s largest employer, providing jobs for <a href="https://ocpsiteprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/media/2021-08/OCP-Sustainability_report_2020-GRI_certified.pdf">21,000 people</a>. </p>
<p>Morocco plans to produce an additional 8.2 million tonnes of phosphorus fertiliser by 2026. <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/morocco-counters-russias-weaponization-food-energy-nexus">Currently production</a> is at about 12 million tonnes. </p>
<p>The state company recently <a href="https://medias24.com/2022/06/05/engrais-une-double-opportunite-pour-le-maroc/">announced</a> that it would increase its fertiliser production for the year by 10%. This would put an additional 1.2 million tonnes on the global market by the end of the year. This will significantly help markets.</p>
<p>But, as I argue in a <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/moroccos-new-challenges-gatekeeper-worlds-food-supply-geopolitics-economics-and">new report</a>, Morocco faces new challenges. Its production of fertiliser is threatened by increasingly daunting environmental and economic challenges. They include the COVID pandemic and the severe supply chain disruptions that have followed.</p>
<p>The timing to address these is crucial. </p>
<p>Russia is currently the world’s <a href="https://www.worldstopexports.com/top-fertilizers-exports-by-country/">largest</a> fertiliser exporter – 15.1% of total exported fertilisers. And fertiliser represents one of the greatest vulnerabilities for both Europe and Africa. For instance, the EU27 (all of the 27 member state of the European Union) as a whole depends on Russia for <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/ni972en/ni972en.pdf">30%</a> of its fertiliser supply. Russia’s advantageous position is amplified by its status as the world’s second-largest natural gas producer. Gas is a main component of all phosphorus fertilisers as well as nitrogen fertilisers.</p>
<p>Because of this, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has serious implications for global food security. Both in terms of supply, and also because fertiliser can be used a economic weapon or tool.</p>
<p>Morocco could therefore become central to the global fertiliser market and a gatekeeper of the world’s food supply that could offset the attempt to use fertiliser as a weapon.</p>
<h2>The journey</h2>
<p>Morocco started to mine phosphorous in 1921. During the 1980s and 1990s it began to produce its own fertiliser. <a href="https://www.ocpgroup.ma/">Office Chérifien des Phosphates</a> built the world’s largest fertiliser production hub in Jorf Lasfar on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. </p>
<p>Before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the company had over 350 clients on five continents. <a href="https://ocpsiteprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/media/2021-08/OCP-Sustainability_report_2020-GRI_certified.pdf">About</a> 54% of phosphate fertilisers bought in Africa come from Morocco. Moroccan fertilisers also account for major domestic market shares in India (50%), Brazil (40%) and Europe (41%). India and Brazil <a href="https://atlanticoonline.com/en/ocp-wants-to-expand-brazilian-operation-in-the-next-two-years/">have reached out</a> to Morocco to fill additional supply gaps.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471565/original/file-20220629-16-346qsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image from the OCP’s 2020 sustainability report.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Morocco’s economy has reaped the benefits of the transformation into an international fertiliser exporting giant. And in sub-Saharan Africa in particular, the combination of joint venture partnerships in local fertiliser production and <a href="https://ocpsiteprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/media/2020-10/Rapport%202020_EN_.pdf">direct outreach</a> to farmers has resulted in a <a href="https://ocpsiteprodsa.blob.core.windows.net/media/2020-10/Rapport%202020_EN_.pdf">remarkable boost</a> to African agricultural yields. </p>
<p>It’s also expanded Morocco’s soft power influence across the continent. For instance, Morocco <a href="https://www.worldfertilizer.com/project-news/15112019/ocp-group-expects-ammonia-plant-in-nigeria-to-begin-production-in-late-2023/">supplies over 90%</a> of Nigeria’s annual fertiliser demand. </p>
<p>But, how well Morocco manages challenges to the industry will affect both its own economic development and the stability of food supplies across the world. </p>
<h2>The challenges</h2>
<p><strong>Water and energy constraints</strong></p>
<p>Phosphate extraction and fertiliser production uses a lot of energy and water. Morocco’s phosphate and fertiliser industry <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/413/mining-a-big-green-mining-machine/">consumes</a> about 7% of its annual energy output and 1% of its water. </p>
<p>But Morocco is among the countries <a href="https://www.unido.org/stories/responding-moroccos-water-challenge">suffering the most</a> from water scarcity. This is <a href="https://cedar.wwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1358&context=wwu_honors">due to</a> a dry climate, high water demand, climate change and reservoir contamination and siltation.</p>
<p>Morocco is trying to address this through a <a href="https://www.maroc.ma/en/news/head-government-2020-2050-national-water-plan-roadmap-face-challenges-next-30-years">National Water Plan 2020-2050</a>. It envisages building new dams and desalination plants and expanding irrigation networks, among other measures, to sustain agriculture and ecosystems. It’s <a href="https://www.maroc.ma/en/news/head-government-2020-2050-national-water-plan-roadmap-face-challenges-next-30-years">estimated to cost</a> about US$40 billion.</p>
<p><strong>Natural gas costs</strong></p>
<p>Nitrogen is the other basic fertiliser element that plants need. Diammonium phosphate, the most popular type of phosphorus fertiliser worldwide (and which Morocco makes along with monoammonium), is <a href="https://www.ocpgroup.ma/standard-fertilizers">composed of</a> 46% phosphorus and 18% nitrogen. Natural gas accounts for <a href="https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/20163-high-fertilizer-prices-tight-supplies-may-adversely-affect-2022-acreage">at least 80%</a> of the variable cost of nitrogen fertiliser. </p>
<p>This means the price of natural gas massively affects production costs. But Morocco has scant natural gas resources. And natural gas prices have been soaring. </p>
<p>How well Morocco manages the food-water-energy nexus will affect both its own economic development and the stability of food supplies across the world. </p>
<h2>Some answers</h2>
<p>The key is to expand its renewable energy sector. Morocco holds <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211115-how-morocco-led-the-world-on-clean-solar-energy">considerable</a> solar and wind resources. Fertiliser manufacturing could become powered by renewable energy, and renewable energy could be used within the fertiliser itself. </p>
<p>In 2020, the state’s fertiliser company covered <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2022/06/349881/ocp-group-green-hydrogen-ammonia-is-the-future-of-energy">89%</a> of its energy needs by co-generation (producing two or more forms of energy from a single fuel source) and renewable energy sources. Its aim is to eventually cover 100% of its energy needs in this way. </p>
<p>Renewable energy could also be used within the fertiliser itself. Instead of importing ammonia derived from natural gas, Morocco could produce its own using hydrogen produced from its domestic renewable energy resources.</p>
<p>According to the state company, <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2021/12/345902/ocp-reaffirms-commitment-to-investing-in-non-conventional-water-resources">31%</a> of its water needs are met with “unconventional” water resources, including treated wastewater and desalinated seawater. </p>
<p>Morocco’s growing reliance on desalination plants to satisfy industrial, agricultural and residential needs will require sizeable new investments in power generation from renewable energy sources. Desalination plants require <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2020.00009/full">10 times the amount of energy</a> to produce the same volume of water as conventional surface water treatment. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-to-find-more-water-eight-unconventional-resources-to-tap-183681">Where to find more water: eight unconventional resources to tap</a>
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<p>To sustain operations and expand green ammonia production, Morocco will have to strike a careful balance between its fertiliser exports, its drive to expand its high-value agricultural exports and the provision of drinking water to its population.</p>
<p>Using its large solar energy resources to power green hydrogen and green ammonia production, along with desalination, Morocco could escape the vicious cycle of the upward spiralling of prices in the food-energy-water nexus.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michaël Tanchum is an associate senior fellow in the Africa Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations</span></em></p>How well Morocco manages challenges to its fertiliser industry will affect its own development and the stability of food supplies across the world.Michaël Tanchum, Senior Fellow at the Austrian Institute for European and Security Studies (AIES), non-resident fellow in the Economics and Energy Program at the Middle East Institute (MEI) and Professor, Universidad de NavarraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1844492022-06-06T08:16:57Z2022-06-06T08:16:57ZWhy is lettuce so expensive? Costs have shot up, and won’t return<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467146/original/file-20220606-14-onyb45.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C333%2C3159%2C1547&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lettuce prices are skyrocketing. Twitter users are posting photos of iceberg lettuces for <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Gillett_/status/1532927650322259968">A$10</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/audreyc98788896/status/1532600717680476161">$11.99</a>, well above the more usual $2.80. </p>
<p>It’s not new, and it’s not only lettuce. The peak body for Australian vegetable producers, AUSVEG, says between 2006 and 2016 costs - and most likely prices - more than <a href="https://ausveg.com.au/resources/economics-statistics/veggie-stats/">doubled</a>. </p>
<p>Some of what’s happening now is due to transport. Vegetables are moved by truck and are sensitive to diesel prices, pushed high by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.</p>
<p>A US Department of Agriculture study found a doubling in the diesel price would lead to a short-term increase in wholesale prices of <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/45165/41077_err160.pdf">20% to 28%</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1532927650322259968"}"></div></p>
<p>Australia’s increase in diesel prices has been nearer 60%. Since mid-2020 they have climbed from <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/quarterly-reports-on-the-australian-petroleum-industry/quarterly-report-on-the-australian-petroleum-market-december-quarter-2021">$1.30 a litre</a> to <a href="http://www.aip.com.au/pricing/national-retail-diesel-prices">$2.10 a litre</a>.</p>
<p>Also hitting vegetable prices has been the price of fertiliser, again pushed up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. </p>
<p>Fertiliser accounts for about 10% of the cost of vegetables.</p>
<p>Austrade reports that throughout 2021 the price of urea, a key ingredient in fertiliser, climbed from $256/tonne to <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/news/insights/insight-farm-food-costs-rise-due-to-higher-energy-prices">$1,026/tonne</a>. Phosphate and potassium prices more than doubled.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1532600717680476161"}"></div></p>
<p>The most important cost in farming is labour, accounting for one quarter of total cash costs. It has been hit three ways.</p>
<p>On April 28 the Fair Work Commission changed the horticulture award to guarantee farm workers a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-02-02/timeline-set-for-farm-worker-floor-price-to-come-into-place-/100796448">minimum rate of pay</a>, something they hadn’t been <a href="https://theconversation.com/closing-the-loophole-a-minimum-wage-for-australias-farm-workers-is-long-overdue-171291">entitled to before</a>.</p>
<p>And agriculture is facing labour shortages as workers have fallen ill with COVID and foreign workers have been denied entry for the almost two years.</p>
<h2>Farmers are selling up</h2>
<p>Vegetable farming doesn’t pay much in Australia. The average return is just short of 4%, less than the average super fund.</p>
<p>As a result, small farmers have been selling up to larger producers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/relax-australia-does-not-have-and-isnt-likely-to-have-a-food-shortage-174598">Relax, Australia does not have (and isn't likely to have) a food shortage</a>
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<p>Transport, fertilisers, labour and industry concentration all point to a step up in prices, with little relief in sight. But combined they probably explain no more than half of what’s happened. The other half is the climate.</p>
<p>Climate change is not only reflected in global warming, it is also reflected in the increased frequency of extreme weather events such as bushfires and draughts, and most recently in extreme floods across NSW and Queensland.</p>
<h2>Extreme weather is more commmon</h2>
<p>What were once <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-in-1-000-years-old-flood-probabilities-no-longer-hold-water-178524">once-in-a-century</a> weather events are happening more often.</p>
<p>Australia can help slow the pace of climate change by controlling carbon emissions, but that will take a lot of time. There is something else we can do.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467144/original/file-20220606-16-2fvrod.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The lettuce price featured in election campaign advertisements.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Campaign Edge</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hydroponic farming, thriving in Europe, can allow an 8,000 square metre vertical farm to produce as many as <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2022/05/29/aurora-indoor-vertical-farm-food-production/">15 million</a> lettuce in a year. </p>
<p>If located near clean energy sources such as wind farms, as <a href="https://www.sundropfarms.com/our-facilities/">Sundrop Farms</a> is near Port Augusta in South Australia, costs can drop. If located near cities, transportation costs can go down as well. </p>
<p>Controlled environments are conducive to automation and remove the need to follow the seasons. Hydroponic farms can cut produce times by half for some vegetables, enabling up to 13 growth cycles a year. </p>
<h2>For the moment, shop around</h2>
<p>While hydroponic farms look like the future, there is little they can do right now to contain prices.</p>
<p>Be prepared to pay more. Shop around. Different supermarkets source products from different locations, affected by the elements in different ways. And consider buying local, helping farmers close to you stay in business. </p>
<p>Also, think about switching vegetables, at least for a while. Not all of them are doubling in price.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-5-for-lettuce-is-too-much-government-should-act-to-stem-the-rising-cost-of-healthy-eating-182295">Yes, $5 for lettuce is too much. Government should act to stem the rising cost of healthy eating</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Flavio Macau is affiliated with the Australasian Supply Chain Institute (ASCI).</span></em></p>The impacts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will pass, but the impacts of climate change will not.Flavio Macau, Associate Dean - School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1827132022-05-23T15:32:39Z2022-05-23T15:32:39ZPlastic pollution: European farmland could be largest global reservoir of microplastics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464232/original/file-20220519-12-olnmgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/9SjCXUq_qSE">Dylan de Jonge/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Plastic particles smaller than 5mm (known as microplastics) are well-documented pollutants in ocean and freshwater habitats. The discovery of microplastics in the most remote rivers of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749121017036">the Himalayas</a> and the deepest trenches of <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.180667">the Pacific Ocean</a> has sparked widespread concern. But how much microplastic lies closer to home – buried in the soil where food is grown?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749122004122">Our latest study</a> estimated that between 31,000 and 42,000 tonnes of microplastics (or 86 trillion – 710 trillion microplastic particles) are spread on European farmland soils each year, mirroring the concentration of microplastics in ocean surface waters. </p>
<p>The cause is microplastic-laden fertilisers derived from sewage sludge diverted from wastewater treatment plants. These are commonly spread on farmland as a renewable source of fertiliser throughout European countries, in part due to <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/1999/31/oj/eng">EU directives</a> that aim to promote a circular waste economy.</p>
<p>As well as creating a massive reservoir of environmental microplastics, this practice is effectively undoing the benefit of removing these particles from wastewater. Spreading microplastics onto farmland will eventually return them to natural watercourses, as rain washes water on the surface of soil into rivers, or it eventually infiltrates groundwater. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dark liquid with colourful plastic fragments floating in it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463945/original/file-20220518-23-clhk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Microplastics filtered from sewage sludge at the wastewater treatment plant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Lofty</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Wastewater treatment plants remove solid contaminants (such as plastics and other large particles) from raw sewage and drain water using a series of settling tanks. This produces an effluent of clean water that can be released to the environment. The floating material and settled particles from these tanks are combined to form the sludge used as fertiliser.</p>
<p>We found that up to 650 million microplastic particles between 1mm and 5mm in size entered a wastewater treatment plant in south Wales, UK, every day. All of these particles were separated from the incoming sewage and diverted into the sludge rather than being released with the clean effluent. This demonstrates how effective default wastewater treatment can be for removing microplastics.</p>
<p>At this facility, each gram of sewage sludge contained up to 24 microplastic particles, which was roughly 1% of its weight. <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/env_ww_spd">In Europe</a>, an estimated 8 million to 10 million tonnes of sewage sludge is generated each year, with around 40% sent to farmland. The spreading of sewage sludge on agricultural soil is widely practised across Europe, owing to the nitrogen and phosphorus it offers crops.</p>
<p>UK farms also <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/env_ww_spd">use sewage sludge</a> as fertiliser. In our study, the UK had the highest amount of microplastic pollution within its soils across all European nations (followed by Spain, Portugal and Germany). Between 500 and 1,000 microplastic particles are applied to each square metre of agricultural land in the UK every year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Europe with the farm soil microplastic concentrations highlighted in shades of blue." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463140/original/file-20220515-16-q4nd47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The relative microplastic burden on European farm soil from direct recycling of sewage sludge.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Lofty</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A poisoned circular waste economy</h2>
<p>At present, there are no adequate solutions to the release of microplastics into the environment from wastewater treatment plants.</p>
<p>Microplastics removed from wastewater are effectively transported to the land, where they reside until being returned to waterways. According to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720318477">a study</a> conducted in Ontario, Canada, 99% of microplastics in agricultural soil were transported away from where the sludge was initially applied. </p>
<p>Until then, they have the potential to harm life in the soil. As well as being easily consumed and absorbed by <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.1268">animals</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-0567-9#Sec6">plants</a>, microplastics pose a serious threat to the soil ecosystem because they leach toxic chemicals and transport hazardous pathogens. Experiments have shown that the presence of microplastics can stunt earthworm growth and cause them to <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.9b03304">lose weight</a>. </p>
<p>Microplastics can also <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b02212">change</a> the acidity, water holding capacity and porosity of soil. This affects <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nph.15794">plant growth and performance</a> by altering the way roots bury into the soil and take up nutrients.</p>
<p>There is currently no European legislation to limit the amount of microplastics embedded in sewage sludge used as fertiliser. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aap8060">Germany</a> has set upper limits for impurities like glass and plastic, allowing up to 0.1% of wet fertiliser weight to constitute plastics larger than 2mm in size. According to the results from the wastewater treatment plant in south Wales, applying sewage sludge would be prohibited if similar legislation were in place in the UK.</p>
<p>For the time being, landowners are likely to continue recycling sewage sludge as sustainable fertiliser, despite the risk of contaminating soils and eventually rivers and the ocean with microplastics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Lofty receives funding from EPSRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pablo Ouro receives funding from EPSRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valentine Muhawenimana receives funding from EPSRC and Sêr Cymru. </span></em></p>Up to 42,000 tonnes a year of microplastics are removed from sewage, spread on fields as fertiliser and eventually wash back into watercourses.James Lofty, PhD Candidate in Hydrodynamics, Cardiff UniversityPablo Ouro, Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow in Marine Engineering, University of ManchesterValentine Muhawenimana, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Environmental Engineering, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1808782022-04-13T13:51:51Z2022-04-13T13:51:51ZRussia-Ukraine conflict is driving up wheat prices: this could fuel instability in Sudan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457128/original/file-20220408-42486-j3hdvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Widespread protests have followed changes in the subsidised price of Baladi bread, a traditional Sudanese flatbread.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by MUJAHED SHARAF AL-DEEN SATI/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-ukraine-conflict-could-influence-africas-food-supplies-177843">has disrupted</a> agricultural production and trade from one of the world’s major food exporting regions. The war threatens to drive rising food prices still higher and create scarcity, especially for regions most dependent on wheat and other exports from Russia and Ukraine. </p>
<p>Particularly affected is the Middle East and North Africa region. These Arab countries <a href="https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/the-impact-of-the-ukraine-war-on-the-arab-region-food-insecurity-in-an-already-vulnerable-context/">consume</a> the highest wheat per capita, about 128 kg of wheat per capita, which is twice the world average. <a href="https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/storage.arab-reform.net/ari/2022/03/11145720/Wheat_En_FInal.pdf">More than half</a> of this comes from Russia and Ukraine.</p>
<p>Sudan, which is part of the Middle East and North Africa region, faces a uniquely difficult set of circumstances as these disruptions loom. As with other countries in the region, wheat is a key food item. It’s second only to sorghum as a source of calories, accounting for <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/134867/filename/135075.pdf">a fifth</a> of the total calories consumed daily. Demand for wheat has grown rapidly in the last 15 to 20 years driven mainly by population growth and changing consumer preferences for bread and other wheat products. </p>
<p>However, only <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/34103">about 15%</a> of the wheat consumed is grown in Sudan, and this share could shrink <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rising-hunger-looms-sudan-with-little-aid-sight-2022-04-01/">due to</a> rising fertiliser and energy <a href="https://www.one.org/africa/blog/rising-food-prices-africa-unrest/">prices</a>. The majority of imported wheat in Sudan is <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/russia-ukraine-conflict-likely-compound-sudans-existing-food-security-problems">sourced from</a> Russia and Ukraine, which together accounted for 59% of imports in 2020. </p>
<p>Moreover, because it is the staple food of the urban population, especially the urban poor, wheat is politically important. In recent years large-scale protests <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-easy-end-to-stand-off-between-al-bashir-and-sudans-protesters-112635">have followed</a> changes in the subsidised price of Baladi bread (traditional flatbread). </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sudans-food-riots-show-that-the-transitional-government-still-has-much-to-achieve-155911">Sudan's food riots show that the transitional government still has much to achieve</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The situation in Sudan is already tense, for months there have been <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202204060733.html">widespread protests</a> against the current military government. The wheat crisis could escalate things further. </p>
<h2>Rising wheat prices</h2>
<p>Prices for wheat and fuel were <a href="https://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/134867/filename/135075.pdf">already spiking</a> before the war started. They began rising in 2019 as a result of a series of domestic problems in Sudan, including high inflation and political instability, with severe adverse consequences for the Sudanese economy. </p>
<iframe title="Sudan import of wheat" aria-label="Interactive area chart" id="datawrapper-chart-Ba0cb" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ba0cb/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="400" width="100%"></iframe>
<p>Wheat prices continued to <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/cdmref/p15738coll2/id/134867/filename/135075.pdf">surge in 2021</a> due largely to overall domestic inflation, foreign exchange shortages that limited wheat imports, a rapid depreciation of the exchange rate and continued low productivity of domestic production. In addition, the removal of fuel subsidies in <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/giews-country-brief-sudan-29-june-2021">June 2021</a> contributed to increased production costs for farmers and bakeries for non-subsidised inputs such as water, yeast, cooking gas, labour, and oil.</p>
<p>Many bakeries went out of business as production costs increased more than the official sales price of subsidised flat bread. </p>
<p>Inflationary pressures were compounded further by a cut in funding from international donors following the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/exclusive-sudan-cut-off-650-million-international-funding-after-coup-2021-12-08/">military coup</a> in October 2021. </p>
<p>These problems intensified in 2022. </p>
<p>On 1 January, the Sudan government abandoned all forms of subsidies on wheat (grain, flour and bread), <a href="https://www.fao.org/giews/food-prices/food-policies/detail/en/c/1096022/">forcing milling companies</a> to <a href="https://sudan.ifpri.info/2021/09/15/a-deeper-look-into-sudans-wheat-value-chains-and-wheat-policy-options/">obtain</a> grain in the higher-priced open market. Overall, between July 2021 and February 2022, the wholesale price of wheat in Khartoum rose by 112% (about 60% in real terms).</p>
<p>Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. </p>
<p>The resulting disruption of wheat exports has pushed imported wheat prices <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/russia-ukraine-war-exacerbating-international-food-price-volatility">still higher</a>. Bread prices are expected to rise further as well, both because of higher wheat prices and increased production costs due to higher oil and gas prices. </p>
<p>For example, the price of gas used as cooking fuel for most bakeries has <a href="https://al-ain.com/article/bread-prices-double-sudan">recently jumped</a> 56%; the price of a jerry can of oil <a href="https://al-ain.com/article/bread-prices-double-sudan">has jumped</a> 67%. </p>
<p>Higher wheat and petroleum prices also add to pressure on foreign exchange reserves, contributing to a recent government decision to sell gold to fund additional food imports in advance of the upcoming Ramadan months when household food consumption typically increases sharply. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457091/original/file-20220408-42951-d8eqbt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sudan Wheat Model Simulations. Source: IFPRI.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To assess the impact of the surge in domestic prices in 2021 and what could happen to the market prices of imports and domestic wheat consumption due to the conflict in Ukraine in early 2022, we ran simulations using a partial equilibrium model of Sudan’s <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/russia-ukraine-conflict-likely-compound-sudans-existing-food-security-problems">wheat economy</a>. </p>
<p>The model used for our simulations is a simplified version of a <a href="http://www.ifpri.org/program/impact-model">partial equilibrium multi-market model</a> commonly used for agricultural trade policy analysis that takes into account agricultural production, household consumption, prices and trade. </p>
<p>Model simulations indicate that the 61% surge in the wholesale price of wheat in Sudan between August 2021 and February 2022 reduced the country’s wheat imports by 24% and total wheat consumption (including consumption of wheat products) <a href="https://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/134867/filename/135075.pdf">by 15%</a>. Simulations of a possible further 20% increase in real wheat prices, due to the Ukraine invasion, suggest this could lead to an additional decline in wheat imports and consumer demand for wheat products of 9 and 5 percentage points, respectively.</p>
<p>These wheat price shocks have serious consequences for Sudan’s food economy and especially for urban poor households. In the model simulations, wheat consumption dropped by 16%-19% between July 2021 and February 2022 because of domestic policy changes. And then by another 5% in March 2022. </p>
<p>The welfare of rural poor households, who constitute the majority of the Sudan’s population, is least affected by these wheat market shocks given their relatively low per capita consumption of wheat products in 2022 (about 12 kgs/person).</p>
<h2>What can be done</h2>
<p>Sudan needs to address the immediate impacts of the current crisis. It should then look to building its resilience to reduce the impacts of the next one. Here are several policy measures to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Increased investments in roads, and other market infrastructure, such as physical markets and stalls. This would help reduce, transaction costs, raise producer prices and improve the functioning and efficiency of markets. </p></li>
<li><p>Additional research and extension efforts to increase production of alternatives to wheat production. This could include drought-tolerant sorghum and millet on non-irrigated land and high value export crops on irrigated land. </p></li>
<li><p>Introduce a cash transfer system targeting the poorest households as bread subsidies are removed. This could build on the experiences from the <a href="https://sudan.un.org/en/47747-sudan-government-and-wfp-sign-agreement-sudan-family-support-programme">Sudan Family Support Program (Samarat)</a> introduced in 2021 but then halted, as well as lessons from successful <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/11/15/the-story-of-takaful-and-karama-cash-transfer-program#:%7E:text=The%20Takaful%20and%20Karama%20conditional%20and%20unconditional%20cash,support%20of%20a%20US%24400%20million%20World%20Bank%20program.">cash transfer programs</a> in other countries, including Egypt’s Takaful and Karama programmes.</p></li>
<li><p>Address food security data gaps and improve monitoring. Accurate targeting of either cash or in-kind transfer programmes would require up-to-date household data. </p></li>
<li><p>Strengthen public sector capacity to address key problems. These include the effectiveness of standards agencies to enforce regulations for monitoring of wheat flour quality, ensuring competition in wheat milling, and effectively building and managing a cash transfer program. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Putting some – or all – of these in place can help build a more resilient wheat system in Sudan. This would give households the wherewithal to better withstand future economic shocks.</p>
<p><em>A version of this article was published <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/russia-ukraine-conflict-likely-compound-sudans-existing-food-security-problems">here</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180878/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clemens Breisinger receives funding from ONE CGIAR and the United States Agency for International Development. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Laborde Debucquet receives funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to study the role of international trade in global and national food security.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Glauber receives funding from USAID. Glauber is also a visiting research scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Kiptoo Kirui receives funding from United States Agency for International Development(USAID). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dorosh receives funding from a USAID/Khartoum Sudan Strategy Support Program. </span></em></p>Wheat and bread play a central role for food security and political stability in Sudan.Clemens Breisinger, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) David Laborde Debucquet, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Joseph Glauber, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Oliver Kiptoo Kirui, Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Paul Dorosh, Director of Development Strategy and Governance Division, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1783342022-03-03T11:48:27Z2022-03-03T11:48:27ZRussia’s war with Ukraine risks fresh pressure on fertiliser prices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449551/original/file-20220302-19-10n4vjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Loading packed fertilisers at Russia's PhosAgro Group in the town of Pochep.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Vladimir Gorovykh\TASS via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Russia is one of the major players in global agricultural markets. The country is a significant <a href="https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2022/02/revisiting-ukraine-russia-and-agricultural-commodity-markets.html">exporter of grains</a>, and also integrated into global agriculture as a supplier of inputs, particularly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-03-01/card/russian-invasion-threatens-disarray-for-farmers-fertilizer-supplies-TLdX3YKW32ZoFGYYoais">fertiliser</a>. The country is a leading world supplier of the key ingredients of a range of them.</p>
<p>It’s therefore important to keep track of the impact of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine on various transmission channels, and the knock on effects they could have on Africa’s agricultural markets. </p>
<p>So far the focus has been on the supply and price of grains and oilseeds. The war presents upside risks to both because Russia and the Ukraine make significant contributions to global exports of wheat, maize and sunflower oil.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-ukraine-conflict-could-influence-africas-food-supplies-177843">How Russia-Ukraine conflict could influence Africa's food supplies</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>There are also risks for countries that export to Russia. Globally the country is the <a href="https://www.trademap.org/Country_SelProduct_TS.aspx?nvpm=1%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c75088%7c%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c%7c1">13th largest agricultural products importer</a> in value terms. The key products Russia imports include citrus, cheese, bananas, wines, soybeans, apples, pears, beef and palm oil. These are mainly sourced from a range of countries such as Belarus, Turkey, Brazil, Germany, China, Ecuador, Italy, Indonesia, France and Germany.</p>
<p>In the case of South Africa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-russia-ukraine-conflict-could-influence-africas-food-supplies-177843">Russia accounted for</a> 7% of its citrus exports in value terms in 2020. And it’s South Africa’s second-largest market for apple and pear exports. </p>
<p>But there’s a great deal more at play. Russia is the world’s <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1278057/export-value-fertilizers-worldwide-by-country/">leading exporter of fertiliser materials in value terms</a>, followed by China, Canada, the US, Morocco and Belarus. These fertiliser mixtures include minerals or chemicals ranging from nitrogen to phosphourous and potassium.</p>
<p>Fertiliser constitutes a significant share in the growth of <a href="https://www.dalrrd.gov.za/doaDev/sideMenu/Marketing/Annual%20Publications/South%20African%20Fertilizer%20Market%20Analysis%20Report%202020.pdf">agricultural commodities and crops</a> across the world, and also substantial share of input costs.</p>
<p>In South Africa, fertilisers account for <a href="https://agbiz.co.za/article/sa-farmers-face-twin-blow-of-rising-input-costs-and-possible-drought">about 35% of grain farmers’ input costs in South Africa</a>. </p>
<p>As with the grains and oilseeds market, the actual disruption of export activity is yet to unfold. But the extensive sanctions that Western countries have imposed on Moscow, including the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60542433">agreement to exclude some Russian banks from some global payment systems such as SWIFT</a>, could negatively affect Russia’s trading activities. </p>
<p>This disruption could push fertiliser prices even higher than the spike experienced in the past 18 months. In some cases, for example in ammonia, <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Chemical-and-Fertilizer-Report_Jan-2022_Final.pdf">prices rose by 260% between December 2020 and December 2021</a>. This meant that farmers had to absorb substantial costs for the 2021/2022 crop across the world. The generally higher commodity prices, specifically grains and oilseeds, provided financial flexibility to absorb some of these costs, but not fully. The Russia-Ukraine war will now be an added upside risk on prices for farmers. </p>
<p>For consumers, the knock on effects will typically be through the size of the final harvest of the crop. Farmers are price takers, and might therefore not necessarily pass on the input costs to consumers. </p>
<h2>Fertiliser price dynamics</h2>
<p>Fertiliser prices increased sharply <a href="https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2022/01/19/fertilizer-prices-continue-mostly">in 2021</a> and remained elevated this year. </p>
<p>For instance, in January 2022, the <a href="https://www.grainsa.co.za/upload/report_files/Chemical-and-Fertilizer-Report_Feb-2022.pdf">international prices of a range of key fertiliser </a> ingredients shot through the roof. Since January 2021 the price of ammonia has gone up by 220%, urea by 148%, di-ammonium phosphate by 90%, and potassium chloride by 198%.</p>
<p>A range of factors have been behind these sharp input cost increases. These include supply constraints in critical fertiliser-producing countries such as China, India, the US, Russia and Canada. Rising shipping costs, and high oil and gas prices have also been contributing factors, along with firmer global demand from agriculture produces.</p>
<p>The Russia-Ukraine conflict will add to these price pressures, particularly if Russia’s exports suffer as a result of the war and sanctions. The primary markets for Russia’s fertiliser material are <a href="https://www.trademap.org/Country_SelProduct_TS.aspx?nvpm=1%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c01%7c%7c%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c%7c1">Brazil, Estonia, China, India, the US, Finland, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Latvia</a>. </p>
<p>Even countries with small direct fertiliser imports from Russia, such as South Africa – Russia’s 36th largest fertiliser materials market – will feel the price pressures.</p>
<p>This week the US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, <a href="https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/17262-vilsack-to-fertilizer-companies-dont-take-advantage-of-russian-invasion">said</a> it was too early to know if the war in Ukraine would disrupt international fertiliser trade. But he warned companies against taking “unfair advantage” of the current circumstances by artificially inflating prices.</p>
<h2>Africa’s fertiliser usage</h2>
<p>Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are small consumers of fertiliser compared with other regions of the world. Consumption is estimated at <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.CON.FERT.ZS?locations=ZG&name_desc=false">19,9 kilograms of nutrients per hectare of cropland</a>, which is well below the <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.CON.FERT.ZS?locations=US&name_desc=false">128,7 kilograms of nutrients per hectare of cropland in developed countries such as the US</a>.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/opinion/wandile-sihlobo-its-not-one-size-fits-all-for-southern-africas-agribusinesses-heres-why-20210706">low use of fertiliser</a> has partly contributed to generally lower agricultural productivity in the region. </p>
<p>There are numerous reasons for this low use of fertiliser, including affordability issues for the continent’s smallholder farmers. The <a href="https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/crops/article/2022/02/23/fertilizer-prices-continue-upward">current prices levels</a> have exacerbated the problem. This could keep productivity levels low for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>But the picture isn’t uniform. Countries such as <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.CON.FERT.ZS?locations=ZA&name_desc=false">South Africa are major fertiliser users</a>, with an average of 72,8 kilograms of nutrients per hectare of cropland compared to the regional average of 19,9 kilograms.</p>
<p>Zambia is also an important fertiliser user, consuming 52,5 kilograms of nutrients per hectare. Kenya and Nigeria are smaller fertiliser consumers. Consumption for both is less than 30 kilograms of nutrients per hectare. </p>
<p>The major regional users <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1243820/import-value-of-fertilizers-into-zambia/">also import substantial volumes</a> of their <a href="https://www.nda.agric.za/doaDev/sideMenu/Marketing/Annual%20Publications/Commodity%20Profiles/field%20crops/South%20African%20Fertilizer%20Market%20Analysis%20Report%202018.pdf">annual consumption</a>. </p>
<h2>The longer view</h2>
<p>It has often been argued that Africa needs to improve its agricultural productivity to improve its food security. But for this to happen there needs to be a financially conducive production environment. As things stand, the cost of inputs like fertiliser don’t augur well for the realisation of improved agricultural productivity on the continent.</p>
<p>This is a global challenge for all farmers, and unfortunately, the ultimate crop yields that farmers harvest is dependent on the use of fertilisers. A reduction in fertiliser use, and the resulting negative impact on yields, has implications for the consumers across the world, particularly in poor countries where agriculture constitutes a significant share of the economy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wandile Sihlobo is the Chief Economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa (Agbiz) and a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).</span></em></p>The ultimate crop yields that farmers harvest depends on the use of fertilisers.Wandile Sihlobo, Senior Fellow, Department of Agricultural Economics, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1709852021-11-03T16:44:45Z2021-11-03T16:44:45ZWhy the fate of our planet’s environment depends on the state of its soil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429947/original/file-20211103-13-1x2dcvw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1276%2C848&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many of our planet's ecosystems depend on the health of soil.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/greenhouse-planting-spring-beds-6226263/">Katya_Ershova/Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt, then president of the US, wrote to state governors in the wake of the “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/dust-bowl">dust bowl</a>” catastrophe, where drought across the <a href="https://www.drought.gov/dews/southern-plains">Southern Plains</a> led to catastrophic famine and dust storms. “The nation that destroys its soils destroys itself,” he wrote, highlighting what remains a fundamental truth: that the state of the Earth’s soil is a vital indicator of the planet’s health.</p>
<p>As a society, we do not place <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/22/6105">sufficient value</a> on the ground beneath our feet. The use of the word “dirt” to denote inferiority is an example of this disrespect for our land. Yet societies succeed and fail as a direct <a href="https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=globaltides">consequence</a> of the value they place on their soils.</p>
<p>Our soil not only directly or indirectly provides most of our food, but it’s also central to our planet’s life-support system. Soil is an integral component of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/carbon-catch-22-the-pollution-in-our-soil-78718">carbon</a>, water and nutrient cycles, which allow organisms of all sizes to to thrive.</p>
<p>When plants and animals decompose, their bodies release nutrients into the soil for subsequent generations of organisms to use and recycle. Soils store, filter and purify our water, helping to protect against <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/forests-can-help-prevent-floods">flash flooding</a> through absorbing rainwater. And soils are critical for <a href="https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/02/21/can-soil-help-combat-climate-change/">carbon storage</a>, helping buffer our climate against the effects of human-driven carbon emissions. There is an estimated <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.earth.35.031306.140057">three times</a> more carbon in our soils than in Earth’s atmosphere.</p>
<p>But these ecosystem services are fragile and can easily break down. By mistreating soil through <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/14si5_en.pdf">deep ploughing</a> (which damages soil structure) and using <a href="https://www.fao.org/3/a0100e/a0100e0d.htm">harsh chemicals</a> (which kill important microbe communities), many of our soils are now degraded. It’s estimated that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/arable-land-soil-food-security-shortage#:%7E:text=5%20years%20old-,Earth%20has%20lost%20a%20third%20of%20arable,past%2040%20years%2C%20scientists%20say&text=The%20world%20has%20lost%20a,food%20soars%2C%20scientists%20have%20warned.">one-third</a> of our agricultural soils have been lost over the past 40 years.</p>
<p>This reduces our ability to produce high-quality food. Soils in poor condition can require more fertiliser, since they cannot trap nitrogen and phosphorus. Manufacturing nitrogen fertiliser to make up for this is a significant source of carbon emissions: nearly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nplants201712">600g of CO₂</a> is produced in making an 800g loaf of bread, with 43% of these emissions arising from nitrogen fertiliser alone.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tractor ploughs a field" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430011/original/file-20211103-13-o0ft6e.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Deep ploughing disturbs the natural composition of soil and the organisms that inhabit it, leaving it vulnerable to erosion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/gerridae-guerrido-aquatic-insect-1415382/">MemoryCatcher/Pixabay</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On top of this, degradation can also lead to soils releasing their stored carbon as CO₂, amplifying the climate crisis. In 2015, when I spoke at the UN climate change conference <a href="https://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/resources/events/detail/en/c/330852/">COP21</a> in Paris, I warned of impending disaster if we don’t protect our soils from degradation with techniques which reduce soil erosion, such as planting cover crops. </p>
<p>At that time, I was <a href="https://digitalmedia.sheffield.ac.uk/media/Bright+Minds++-+Food+Sustainability/1_wei1otk8/199532763">described</a> as a “peddler of university disaster pornography” by climate change deniers. But my testimony was not some fanciful prediction. As studying the dust bowl reminds us, the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-dust-bowl/legacy">repercussions</a> of soil degradation are still being felt today. </p>
<h2>Degradation</h2>
<p>Across the UK, soils have been degraded due to intensive agriculture, leaving them vulnerable to erosion by extreme weather. In the spring of 2014, when heavy rainfall across the UK saturated land, degraded soils were unable to store water, leading to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/11/englands-floods-everything-you-need-to-know">widespread flooding</a> and soil erosion. That month, the Earth observation centre <a href="https://www.neodaas.ac.uk/">NEODAAS</a> in Plymouth released a satellite image of the UK “<a href="https://ntplanning.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/taking-the-initiative-to-deliver-soil-health-for-uk-agricultural-soils/">bleeding</a>” its soils into the ocean. </p>
<p>We understand why this happens. Ploughing breaks down conglomerations of inorganic soil particles such as clay and sand, bound together by <a href="https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/what-is-organic-matter-and-why-is-it-so-important/">organic material</a> such as dead roots, fungal filaments and bacterial and earthworm secretions. These store organic carbon and build soil structure. Without them, soils wash out more easily into our rivers and estuaries. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An earthworm on moss" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429950/original/file-20211103-18-1s1naob.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Organisms such as earthworms contribute to soil health, but are negatively affected by fertilisers and ploughing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/earthworms-the-frog-s-perspective-2773457/">Catarina132/Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recent research at the universities of Sheffield, York and Leeds has shown how we might fix this problem: by using no or shallow ploughing, rotating land used for farming, and planting cover crops, all of which allow our soils to <a href="https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/172056/">rest and recover</a>. Coupled with limiting fertilisers, this allows populations of beneficial soil organisms like earthworms, fungi and bacteria to increase. </p>
<h2>Regeneration</h2>
<p>This evidence supports growing calls to embrace <a href="https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/what-regenerative-agriculture">regenerative agriculture</a>, which calls for supporting – rather than fighting – biodiversity within the agricultural landscape. </p>
<p>In South America, for example, the popular method of “slash, burn and move on” agriculture – where forests are felled, burned to release nutrients and then farmed until those nutrients are depleted – has been criticised for its destruction of biodiversity. In contrast, regenerative agriculture’s focus on increasing biodiversity has been shown to be a <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/latin-america/stories-in-latin-america/transforming-agriculture-to-unleash-the-regenerative-power-of-na/">success</a> in terms of protecting and even increasing soil health in the region. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Plants grow in an urban greenhouse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/429951/original/file-20211103-27-1mq8oto.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Growing food in urban spaces could help protect our planet’s remaining arable land and feed rising populations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/photos/greenhouse-agriculture-farm-3247181/">WiselyWoven/Pixabay</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Part of regenerative agriculture involves taking pressure off our soils, which might appear tricky in light of the need to feed a growing global population. <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sustainable-food">Our research</a> has shown that producing more food in the <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317130713.htm">urban environment</a> could help achieve this.</p>
<p>Crops can be grown in <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/19/cities-should-grow-fruit-vegetables-roadside-verges-study-claims/">crowded cities</a> using highly efficient hydroponic systems, which use less water, less fertiliser and require no soil. These can operate on top of flat-roofed buildings – or even in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TP65QA3Vhc&ab_channel=WorldFoodForum">refugee camps</a>, where farming enhances food security and community resilience. By growing crops close to where people live, we can remove the need to ship food around the globe, making our food systems much more sustainable.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fao.org/3/cb3808en/cb3808en.pdf">Almost 20%</a> of greenhouse gas emissions currently arise from agriculture: meaning that carbon is effectively leaking out of our soils across the world. That means we urgently need to embrace technologies that take a soil-centric view of food production if we are to leave a functional agricultural ecosystem for future generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170985/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duncan Cameron receives funding from BBSRC, NERC and the Royal Society.</span></em></p>If we want to reduce carbon emissions and preserve planetary ecosystems, we need to protect our soils.Duncan Cameron, Professor of Plant and Soil Biology, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1623452021-06-14T15:05:49Z2021-06-14T15:05:49ZGhana’s farmers aren’t all seeing the fruits of a Green Revolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405891/original/file-20210611-17-1wg4uxe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ghana's Green Revolution has not been as successful as portrayed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cta-eu/48742492442/">Wikimedia Commons/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global businesses, donors and governments have each pursued a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002302">Green Revolution agenda</a> in Africa, Asia and South America since the 1960s. Its aim was, in theory, to produce more food, reducing food insecurity and poverty. This was done via improved seed varieties, chemical fertilisers and other agrochemicals. </p>
<p>However, rates of hunger continued to increase alongside the uptake of these <a href="https://civileats.com/2008/07/20/seeking-global-food-justice-an-interview-with-raj-patel/">agricultural technologies</a>. They have also been <a href="https://www.nathab.com/blog/when-going-green-isnt-good-climate-change-and-the-green-revolution/">criticised</a> for the carbon they produce and the amount of water they use.</p>
<p>Despite the failings of the first Green Revolution, a second wave emerged in the early 21st century, this time primarily targeting the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X15002302">African continent</a>. National policies across a number of African countries have supported this agenda. In Ghana, for example, the government worked with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00219096211019063?journalCode=jasa">donor organisations and the private sector</a> to extend the Green Revolution throughout its major food producing areas. </p>
<p>The Brong Ahafo region, now divided into Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions, is one such area. This <a href="https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1480&context=abe_eng_conf">zone</a> is often referred to as the “food basket” of Ghana. It <a href="https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1480&context=abe_eng_conf">leads</a> the production of maize and other major staple crops. It is also a favoured location for experiments with agricultural modernisation, because its ecological conditions suit food crop cultivation.</p>
<p>We designed a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00219096211019063">study</a> to analyse drivers of this second Green Revolution in the Brong Ahafo region. It included key champions of this agricultural transformation agenda. We also aimed to assess its impacts at the local level and on different categories of farmers. </p>
<p>Our study found that international donors and philanthropic organisations were central in driving Green Revolution technologies in this region. Despite the hopes – and hype – pinned on this second Green Revolution, it has failed to address the needs of poor farmers. It hasn’t reduced poverty. Rather, it has increased farm input costs, farmer indebtedness and inequalities among farmers. </p>
<p>Given these outcomes, there is an urgent need to re-imagine agricultural transformation. It is farmers – not donors and philanthropists - who are best placed to lead a socially just and environmentally responsible farming future in Ghana. </p>
<h2>Drivers of farming technologies</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf">dominant view</a> among government and industry stakeholders is that the current Green Revolution is vital to make smallholder farming more productive. They call for access to farm inputs and innovations, financial and agricultural services and support, and access to markets.</p>
<p>Our study found many actors in farming communities also shared this view. For instance, representatives from donor organisations such as the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) championed the uptake of external inputs for increasing agricultural production. </p>
<p>Similarly, agricultural extension officers and representatives from local NGOs encouraged farmers to adopt these technologies. Pressure also came from commercial providers of “improved” seeds, chemical fertilisers and other agrochemicals. </p>
<p>Through the uptake of these commercial inputs, farmers have become integrated within global agro-input chains. This is unlike the first Green Revolution, when farm inputs were most commonly freely exchanged among farmers. </p>
<p>Our study shows that farmers in the Brong Ahafo region are reluctantly adopting these inputs. They are being told that doing so will help them adapt to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00219096211019063">changing ecological</a> conditions – including shortened rainfall periods and diminished soil fertility. Such claims are not necessarily matched by farmers’ experiences. </p>
<h2>Different outcomes</h2>
<p>The first Green Revolution has been widely <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146499341101200308">criticised</a> on the basis of its adverse social and environmental impacts at the local level. Our study of the second Green Revolution in the Brong Ahafo region demonstrates similar trends. These practices of farming have increased the costs of production and put farmers further in debt. Poor and landless migrant farmers are hit hardest. </p>
<p>Although new technologies may have increased yields, they have also raised costs of production – and there are no assured markets for produce. The region has no structured market systems that can ensure farmers generate an income from crops. With bargaining power skewed in favour of buyers, the prices of produce often disadvantage farmers – especially when farm produce is abundant. </p>
<p>But the outcomes are not the same for all farmers. </p>
<p>Commercial farmers who are able to produce in large quantities are often linked to markets through contract buyers who purchase direct from their farms. Their financial and social capital puts these large scale farmers in the best position to benefit from any Green Revolution interventions. Poor and small scale farmers are unable to reap the same rewards. </p>
<p>The high costs of production – through dependence on costly off-farm inputs – and lack of access to ready markets are driving farmers away from food crops and towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-wants-to-grow-more-cashews-but-what-about-unintended-consequences-93162">cash crops for export</a>. Such conditions have already threatened local food systems and will continue to do so. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-ghanas-smallholders-arent-excited-by-the-latest-green-revolution-134804">Why Ghana's smallholders aren't excited by the latest 'Green Revolution'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>Champions of the second Green Revolution in Africa – including national governments, donors and philanthropists – promise its technologies are the answer for feeding the world, even in an era of climate constraint. Yet the reality on the ground – as borne out in our study with farmers in the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana – tells a different story. </p>
<p>Faced with the challenges of land shortages and changing ecological conditions, alongside insecure and unfair markets, technological interventions alone will not ensure a socially just and environmentally responsible food system. </p>
<p>The many diverse challenges facing farmers in Ghana – and many other parts of Africa – must be met by taking local approaches. These consider the lived experiences and expertise of farmers themselves, and are supported by national agricultural policies and planning. Farmers need space to shape their own livelihoods and to innovate in response to changing ecological conditions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristen Lyons is a senior research fellow with the Oakland Institute and member of the Australian Greens</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Boafo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Realities on the ground tell a different story from the claim that a Green Revolution ensures food security and increased income for smallholder farmers in Ghana.James Boafo, Lecturer in Geography and Sustainable Development, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Kristen Lyons, Professor Environment and Development Sociology, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1537592021-01-27T15:21:49Z2021-01-27T15:21:49ZHow a pre-Incan civilisation thrived in the Atacama Desert thanks to seabird poo fertiliser<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380269/original/file-20210122-15-2ieam0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Atacama is the driest place on earth outside of a few Antarctic valleys.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Olga Danylenko / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Atacama Desert of northern Chile is one of the driest places on the planet – in many years it receives no rain whatsoever. For farming communities to survive and thrive they would need water and soil nutrients, both in short supply. </p>
<p>Yet people did live in the Atacama, long before modern technology. The water shortage was addressed using water from oases and complex irrigation systems. For soil nutrients, the solution they hit upon – centuries before the arrival of the Inca in around 1450 – was to bring a super-fertiliser from the coast in the form of seabird excrement, or “guano”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of northern Chile." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=694&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380423/original/file-20210125-19-hbxxpb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=872&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of northern Chile and the Atacama, showing the 14 archaeological sites.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Santana-Sagredo et al</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was the key finding of our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41477-020-00835-4">new research</a> in which we analysed the remains of 246 crop and wild plants found in 14 archaeological sites in the Atacama. These plants cover a nearly 3,000 year period spanning several ancient civilisations, followed by the Inca, and finally the period of European colonisation up to 1800. </p>
<p>One way to tell if guano was used to fertilise these ancient plants is to look for the ratios of the isotopes of nitrogen (15N/14N) in the plant remains. These two isotopes differ only in atomic mass, but as a result they behave a little differently in natural systems and so can act as tracers of natural, biochemical processes. We know that even small amounts of seabird guano fertiliser has a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440312003019">massive impact on the nitrogen isotope ratios</a> in modern maize, raising them far above what is possible either naturally or using any other fertiliser. When we looked at archaeological crop remains, including maize, squash and chilli peppers, we found similarly high isotope ratios in plants dating from around AD 1000 and onwards.</p>
<p>Nitrogen isotope ratios found in human skeletons from the region, well-preserved in the arid conditions, also changed dramatically in parallel with the crops. Scientists had earlier thought that this showed that people had eaten fish from the sea. Marine fish are known to have high nitrogen isotope ratios, especially those off the coast of Chile thanks to the very cold and nutrient-rich waters of the <a href="https://www.scienceandthesea.org/program/201002/humboldt-current">Humboldt Current</a>. Our research found that people in ancient Atacama communities did obtain those high nitrogen isotope values from fish – except that it was indirectly, via seabirds who ate the fish and then excreted it as guano, which became fertiliser for crops.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Birds sat on rocks covered in white substance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380270/original/file-20210122-19-1wkjsh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guanay cormorants on the nearby Pacific coast…and their guano.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jens Otte / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Guano inequality</h2>
<p>Our research also found that not everyone seems to have had access to this super-fertiliser. While there were signs that high nitrogen isotope ratios increased markedly in maize kernels from AD1000 onwards, indicating a considerable increase in crop yields and allowing larger settlements, some kernels lacked this evidence. Rather they showed signs of other fertilisers such as green compost or dung from llamas and their relatives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dusty ground with lines and box shapes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380480/original/file-20210125-17-1b70e1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drone image of the remains of an ancient settlement in the Atacama (site no.9 in the above map).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roberto Izaurieta</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Skeletons from the same cemeteries and dating to the same period also showed dramatic differences in their nitrogen isotope ratios, suggesting that access to manured crops was not evenly distributed through the community. It might be that some families or clans had privileged links with the coast (some 90km distant) and were able to obtain seabird guano and use it primarily for their own advantage as a source of power and prestige. The desert bloomed – but for some more than for others. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Old advert for 'soluble pacific guano'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=815&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380483/original/file-20210125-15-kzm00v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">South American guano was once sold around the world.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Guano fertilisation continued into the Inca and colonial periods. In the early 19th century, it became more widely known worldwide as a super-fertiliser and became a significant source of income for Peru (which the Atacama was then part of). Hundreds of thousands of tonnes were shipped overseas each year, mainly to the US and western Europe – it was at this time that guano became known as “white gold”. </p>
<p>Guano’s importance was eclipsed shortly afterwards firstly by a new Atacama Desert resource, saltpetre (sodium nitrate), which was <a href="https://msaag.aag.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/3_Marr.pdf">extensively mined</a>, and then by the introduction of cheaper synthetic fertilisers in the early 20th century. Guano fertiliser has undergone resurgence through its use in organic farming, but in Chile it is now forbidden to extract recent guano, and both the guano and the seabirds that produce it are protected by law.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francisca Santana-Sagredo receives funding from ANID (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo - Chile) and National Geographic Society . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Lee-Thorp receives funding from the National Environmental Research Council (UKRI). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Schulting does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Guano helped humans farm the world’s driest desert, new research finds.Francisca Santana-Sagredo, Assistant lecturer, Universidad Católica de ChileJulia Lee-Thorp, Emeritus Professor of Archaeological Science, University of OxfordRick Schulting, Lecturer in Scientific and Prehistoric Archaeology, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1488772020-11-06T14:30:47Z2020-11-06T14:30:47ZWe found a way to turn urine into solid fertiliser – it could make farming more sustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367925/original/file-20201106-23-1uqu5iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3865%2C2575&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gardener-blending-organic-fertiliser-humic-granules-1364887628">Zlikovec/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s likely that most of the food you’ll eat today was not farmed sustainably. </p>
<p>The global system of food production is the largest human influence on the planet’s <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/1259855.abstract">natural cycles</a> of nitrogen and phosphorus. How much crops can grow is limited by the amount of these two elements in the soil, so they’re applied as fertilisers. </p>
<p>But the majority of fertilisers are either made by converting nitrogen in the air to ammonia, which alone consumes <a href="http://www.iipinetwork.org/wp-content/Ietd/content/ammonia.html#key-data">2% of the world’s energy</a> and relies heavily on fossil fuels, or by mining finite resources, like <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095937800800099X">phosphate rock</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.2166/9781780401072">A solution</a> to this problem could be much closer than people realise. Most of the nutrients we consume in food are passed in our urine, because our bodies already have enough. But instead of being recaptured, these nutrients are flushed, diluted, and sent to wastewater treatment plants where they’re scrubbed out, leaving effluents that can be safely released into the environment. </p>
<p>The most nutrient-rich part of wastewater is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852409002806">human urine</a>, which makes up less than 1% of the total volume but contains 80% of the nitrogen and 50% of the phosphorus. We discovered how to recycle this urine into valuable – and sustainable – farmland fertiliser.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A pair of gloved hands hold a pot containing a urine sample." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367922/original/file-20201106-13-8ngh5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urine is surprisingly rich in the nutrients needed for growing food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/preparation-urine-samples-laboratory-hospital-study-1257550750">Tati9/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How to recycle urine</h2>
<p>You can capture urine with <a href="https://www.treehugger.com/urine-separating-toilets-are-not-quite-wonderful-we-keep-saying-they-are-4858530">special toilets</a> that separate it from faeces after you flush. But because urine is mostly water, farmers would have to spread 15,000kg of it just to fertilise a hectare of land. If there was a way to remove the water and extract just the nutrients, farmers would only need to apply 400kg of it for the same effect.</p>
<p>Evaporating the water from urine is surprisingly difficult, as urine is a complex chemical solution. Almost all of the valuable nitrogen in urine is in the form of urea, a chemical that is used as the world’s <a href="http://nmsp.cals.cornell.edu/publications/factsheets/factsheet80.pdf">most commonly applied</a> nitrogen fertiliser. </p>
<p>But a fast-acting enzyme called urease is invariably present inside wastewater pipes and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135418304457">converts urea to ammonia</a>. When exposed to air, the ammonia quickly evaporates, taking the nitrogen from the urine with it and giving off a very pungent odour – think the stale urine smell of public toilets. </p>
<p>Fortunately, we’ve discovered that <a href="https://iwaponline.com/wst/article-abstract/74/6/1436/19385">increasing the pH of urine</a> to make it alkaline ensures the urea doesn’t break down or end up smelling really bad. Using this technique, we’ve developed a process that can reduce the volume of urine and transform it into a solid fertiliser. We call this process <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978044464309400009X">alkaline urine dehydration</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A petri dish full of a dry, soil-like powder." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366976/original/file-20201102-23-17rt15y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the fertiliser produced by drying human urine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Prithvi Simha</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The idea behind it is rather simple. Fresh urine is collected from urinals or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352710219308460">specially designed toilets</a> and channelled into a dryer, where an alkalising agent, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720328308">calcium or magnesium hydroxide</a>, raises its pH. Any water in the now alkaline urine is evaporated and only the nutrients are left behind. We can even <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2020.570637/full">condense the evaporated water</a> and reuse it for flushing toilets or washing hands. </p>
<h2>A circular pee-conomy</h2>
<p>Doing this is quite easy: you just fill a urine dryer with an alkalising agent, connect it to your toilet, pee as usual and the urine is converted into dried fertiliser. A smart design could even make the dryer fit below the toilet so it doesn’t take up a lot of bathroom space. While electricity would be needed for evaporating the water, the dryer could be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717302796">coupled with solar energy</a> to take its energy use off the grid.</p>
<p>We estimate that it would cost just US$5 (£4.20) to supply an average family of four with a year’s supply of alkalising agent. The output from the dryer is a solid fertiliser containing 10% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus and 4% potassium – a similar combination to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139313">blended mineral fertilisers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Left: a scientist spreads fertiliser on soil. Right: the same area with short, green crops growing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=226&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/367238/original/file-20201103-15-qoz66f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Field trials on farmland outside Paris revealed that dried urine works as well as synthetic crop fertilisers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tristan Martin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.baus.org.uk/museum/164/a_brief_history_of_the_flush_toilet">The first flush toilet</a>, invented by Alexander Cummings in 1775, revolutionised sanitation. Drying urine could kickstart a second revolution in how we manage wastewater. If implemented worldwide, recycled urine could replace nearly a quarter of all the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser used in agriculture. </p>
<p>But that would require <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978044464309400009X">a service chain</a> capable of supplying homes with alkalising agent, collecting the dried urine and processing it into fertiliser for farmers to use. A similar service chain already exists for the recycling of plastics, metals, paper and glass – dried urine could simply be another component. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A world map highlighted to show where urine could replace more synthetic fertiliser use." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366972/original/file-20201102-19-nvrah4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Countries with large populations and low rates of fertiliser use are most suitable for replacing synthetic fertilisers with urine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Prithvi Simha/Datawrapper and FAOSTAT</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971730044X">Research</a> suggests that people are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0043135418305384">open to the idea</a> of recycling urine. A survey of nearly 3,800 people across 16 countries even revealed that people would buy and eat <a href="https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/kccc8m9pn9/1">food grown using human urine</a>. With technology like this, ordinary people would have a safe and convenient way to make modern life more sustainable every time they go to the bathroom.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prithvi Simha owns shares in Sanitation360, a company which aims to commercialise urine dehydration technology.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Björn Vinnerås owns shares in Sanitation360 AB. He receives funding from the Swedish Research Council Vetenskapsrådet, Formas, VINNOVA (the Swedish Innovation agency), and the EU H2020 projects Run4Life and REWAISE. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span> Jenna Senecal is CEO of Sanitation360, a company which aims to commercialise urine dehydration technology.</span></em></p>If rolled out worldwide, our method could replace a quarter of all the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser used in agriculture.Prithvi Simha, PhD Candidate in Environmental Engineering, Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesBjörn Vinnerås, Professor of Environmental Engineering, Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesJenna Senecal, Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental Engineering, Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.