Quote:
Originally Posted by TwitchKitty
The issue here is bioavailability. The nitrogen is not chemically available for use by people unless it is recombined into a different form. It just isn't available in nature without industrial means.
Read about bioavailability of nitrogen and nitrogen fixing.
Haber-Bosch makes the nitrogen available. The nitrogen in our bodies came from cheap petroleum. It would not have been available without cheap petroleum. Control of petroleum is control of the world. This is why grain grown in the US sells for less overseas than the people there can grow it themselves, even though it cost more to grow it here than it would cost to grow it there, so much for supply and demand.
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What is this 'our' business? Got mice in your pockets? It is in your body or at some supposed percentage ONLY if you eat from particular sources. And, regardless the percentage, nitrogen based proteins and all that are just that - hardly matters the source of the nitrogen. We can make fertilizer from almost any N source. Like the air. Direct ammonia into soil injection works just fine as does feeding ammonia to cattle. Ever notice those ammonia tanks outside farm buildings? An organic farm operation can get by with no commercial/chemical industry produced fertilizers, but unless they are concerned with the impact of making the stuff, their really isn't much argument against them. I agree that sustainability is worthy goal, but is seems we have already lost the battle against pollution and environmental degradation to greed the economic interests of the few. It will take something big to turn that tide.