Farming Faces Phosphate Shortfall

A salt of phosphoric acid salt, phosphate is a chemical compound made up of a central phosphorous atom and four oxygen atoms.

Phosphorous is a "finite and irreplaceable" mineral, whose known reserves that are economically viable for exploitation could run out in 60 to 100 years if the current pace of global consumption continues, Euripedes Malavolta, veteran agronomist and researcher at the University of Sao Paulo, told Tierramérica.

"Without phosphorous there will be no agriculture, nor biofuels, nor life. Humanity will end," he said. Other minerals, like nitrogen, potassium, cobalt, magnesium and molybdenum, are also essential, but their sources are not as limited and, except for the first two, their consumption is relatively low.

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"Phosphate has the risk running out before petroleum does," José Oswaldo Siqueira, professor of soil microbiology at the Federal University of Lavras, told a bio-energy conference held last month in Sao Paulo.

Strong expansion of agriculture for bio-energy purposes would accelerate depletion of phosphate, which is a fact to consider in any "strategic vision" for that sector, he said in a Tierramérica interview.

Jason Berkes