Demand for food is destroying the Earth

Friday, December 03, 2010 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: environmental destruction, food, health news

(NaturalNews) Rising demand for food -- especially meat -- is taking a bigger and bigger toll on the planet, analysts are warning.

The most recent sign of trouble was the August 19 headline, "Australian mining giant launches hostile $40 billion takeover bid for world's largest potash supplier."

Potash, also known as potassium carbonate, is a mineral salt and a critical ingredient in synthetic fertilizers. Rising demand for food has led to a dramatic rise in prices for the commodity.

There is very little arable land left uncultivated on the planet, yet the world's population continues to rise -- meaning that more people must be fed from food grown on the same amount of land. Making matters even worse is the ongoing worldwide shift to a Western diet, characterized by high levels meat consumption. Since it takes 7 kilograms of grain to produce just a single kilogram of meat, this creates an even higher pressure for high crop yields -- and thus for fertilizer.

Potash can either be produced by burning down broadleaf forests, or it can be mined from pre-existing deposits in the earth. Yet these deposits are finite, and as demand for fertilizer continues to boom, they will start to dwindle.

"The potash story is very significant," said Tim Lang of City University, London. "This is an attempt at a commodity grab. The price of potash will rise and, with it, the price of food. Right now agriculture is like a junkie, hooked on things like potash and oil."

Petroleum is a critical component in producing the nitrogen that is also needed for fertilizer. But many analysts point out that there is another path to food security.

"If the challenge is about future soil fertility and human health, we can develop a system based on nutrient recycling," Lang said. "Humans need to become part of the cycle, literally, using recycled sewage to restore fertility to the land. At the moment we drain it out to sea -- it could be used to increase yield and health of crops."

Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/7969....