Compared to the lifetime of grieving ahead for the people of
West, Texas, a few years of reduced crop yields is a small price to pay for
converting from "conventional" to organic farming.
Mushroom cloud from West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion |
My heart aches for the
people of West, Texas, the tiny town where a fertilizer plant recently blew up.
Many of the folks who perished in the blast were heroic volunteer firefighters
who ran into danger instead of away from it.
With 14 dead and 200 injured, and a nearby nursing home, school, and
apartment complex either badly damaged or destroyed, West’s brave citizens have
hard work ahead.
As a nation, we must
prevent a disaster like this from happening again. For starters, we can make
fertilizer plants safer and locate them away from schools and nursing homes from now on.
Here’s a big question
we should all be asking: Why do Americans use
so much nitrogen fertilizer in the first place?
Scientists discovered
two centuries ago that plants need nitrogen, a building block of protein, to
grow.
Whether you fertilize
your soil with manure or with the fertilizer manufactured in the plant that
just blew up, you’re adding nitrogen to your soil. Too much nitrogen kills your
plants. But without nitrogen, plants can’t grow.
That seems simple. But
there’s more to it. Another element, carbon, is inextricably linked to
nitrogen. Microbes in the soil need both carbon and nitrogen to survive, and
they need them in the right ratios. Add too much nitrogen, and the microbes end
up depleting the carbon in the soil as a result.
Of course, plants take
in carbon dioxide from the air and convert it to sugars via photosynthesis. So
why does it matter if there’s no carbon left in the soil?
Well, the carbon
located in the soil allows the ground to retain air and water. Plants need that
carbon because they need air and water. Without carbon, the soil becomes
compressed and hard. Water can’t penetrate it easily, and instead of seeping
deep into the ground, it evaporates. This leaves farmland — and crops — more
vulnerable to both drought and floods.
Strangely enough, even
though nitrogen-based fertilizer allows plants to grow lush and green, it also
weakens their defense mechanisms. This makes farmland, lawns, and gardens more
attractive to pests.
Plants evolved in the
absence of modern fertilizer and pesticides. Believe it or not, they are far
more in control than we imagine them to be. I see them as conductors of a vast,
microscopic orchestra.
The roots of every
plant emit chemicals called exudates that draw microbes to the zone immediately
around the roots. The microbes — bacteria and fungi — stay there, feeding off
the exudates. In exchange, the microbes provide the plant with nutrients,
including nitrogen.
The microbes feed the
plant, prey on or compete with harmful organisms, and improve the structure of
the soil. These microbes are the key to every great natural landscape in the
world — and to successful organic farming.
We can maximize crop
productivity by putting these microbes to work for us. Instead, “conventional”
farmers routinely kill them by using nitrogen fertilizer that depletes their
soil.
Critics of nitrogen
fertilizer often compare it to a drug. The first hit feels really good, and
your crops grow big and beautiful. But as the microbes in your soil die and
your carbon is depleted, you need more and more fertilizer just to get the same
yields.
Meanwhile, fertilizer
runs off, polluting nearby waterways. And because fertilizer is made with
natural gas — often obtained these days via the extreme drilling process known as “fracking” — it devastates the
environment when it’s manufactured as well as when it’s used.
Just like junkies
suffer painful withdrawal when they stop taking drugs, a farm addicted to
nitrogen fertilizer will experience a drop in yields for a few years once they
stop using it. But after five “drug”-free years, a properly managed organic
farm can meet or exceed the yields it would have achieved
using chemicals.
Compared to the
lifetime of grieving ahead for the people of West, Texas, a few years of
reduced crop yields is a small price to pay.
Let’s end our national
addiction to fertilizer.
OtherWords columnist Jill
Richardson is the author of Recipe
for America: Why Our Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. OtherWords.org