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Several years ago a study commissioned by the United Nations found that, at a time when the world has more hungry people than ever before, one-third of all food is wasted. Consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food, 222 million tonnes, as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. A previous study had found that British households threw away an estimated one metric tonne of food per year.

Of course, everyone will have some kitchen waste – no one wants to eat the potato peelings or woody stems – but Nature recycles everything. Dropped in the woods those peelings quickly become food for birds or rodents, which fertilise the ground. If these animals are not around, they become food for insects, which in turn feed the larger animals. Whatever insects don’t eat becomes food for moulds and other fungi, and what they don’t eat goes to aerobic bacteria.

In our modern society, though, we have managed to take Nature’s cycles and slice them into several crises. We use vast amounts of fertilisers, pesticides and water to grow food, ship it around the world, often throw it away uneaten — and when we throw it away, we often put in in plastic bags.

This bizarre habit has the effect of sealing the food away from the animals — furry, feathered or creeping – that would eat it, and cutting off the oxygen that would allow fungi and aerobic bacteria to breathe. That leaves only anaerobic bacteria, Nature’s emergency backup workers, who work slowly and create a bit of an odour. You might think that decomposition smells foul anyway, but a well-turned compost actually doesn’t generate much of a smell.

Moreover, anaerobic bacteria create large quantities of methane, which is a serious greenhouse gas — about 35 times worse than carbon dioxide, and accounts for about 20 per cent of the greenhouse effect.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Do You Use Urine?

HOW DO YOU USE URINE?

Composting toilets are a great thing. They take what has become a problem in modern systems—human excrement—and make it into something useful: rich compost. Despite simple and effective ways of making composting toilets, humanure does still bring about some controversy with those who are worried about pathogens. Confident composters won’t hesitate to put a well-rotted humanure compost in vegetable gardens, whereas less trusting composters opt for applying it to fruit trees. The important thing about either type of composter, however, is that we start making the most of cycling the waste rather than contaminating our water sources.

With all of that said, urine is a completely different excretion, one that really doesn’t need to set off the same alarm bells. Most basic composting toilets are anti-urine, concerned about the high moisture levels, though some argue this needn’t be the case, that the moisture is actually good for the thunderbox. Nevertheless, the idea remains that urine is something else we should be thinking about. Unlike solid waste, urine applied to gardens doesn’t come with the risk of pathogens; rather, it is just, some would say, pure gold. In fact, it can be used in many different ways for boosting production.

MAKE WEE FOR THE GARDEN?

Urine Bucket (Courtesy of SuSanA Secretariat)

Urine is very high in nitrogen, so much so that it should be diluted a minimum ratio of 1:10 with water before being used on plants. The wee of one person is said to be rich enough to fertilize a tenth of an acre of vegetable garden for the year. Once diluted the micturition mixture, or tinkle tincture if you like, should be applied within twenty-four hours of the urine being expelled. Older urine can become a bacterial issue, and a smelly one at that.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Free” Fertilizer is Saving Rural Farmers

“FREE” FERTILIZER IS SAVING RURAL FARMERS

Revitalizing dead soil can be done in just one planting season, thanks to Shivansh farming. Rural farmers can use whatever materials are available to them to restore their livelihoods – lowering their costs and increasing their yields.

The majority of the world’s poorest farmers use a nitrogen fertilizer called urea. The chemical was initially produced to serve industrial agriculture, but many small-scale farmers were swayed by the fertilizer’s promise of increased productivity. However, the fertilizer begins to wreak havoc once absorbed into the soil, destroying the precarious balance of microorganisms the soil needs to provide plants with enough vitamins and minerals. The ecosystem is destroyed.

As a result, crops are left vulnerable to disease, produce lower yields, are less nutritious, and even require more water. This kicks off a chain reaction that leads to farmers using more fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides in an attempt to remedy these issues. Producers begin investing more money in chemicals, and have to start purchasing seeds to replant their failing crops – resulting in farmers earning only a 2 percent profit, intensifying their food insecurity and ongoing poverty.

Shivansh fertilizer can allow farmers to break this cycle and reduce their dependence on the chemicals that are doing more harm than good. To create their own free fertilizer, farmers need only gather whatever they have lying around – fresh grass, dried plant materials, animal manure, or crop residues – and incorporate an easy layering technique to create a shoulder-high mound.

The rest is all up to nature. After 18 days, the pile has reduced down to a nutrient-rich fertilizer, full of the microorganisms that soil needs to grow healthy crops. This powerful fertilizer can bring damaged soil back to life within the very first planting season – meaning it has the capacity to completely revolutionize the farming industry for impoverished producers worldwide.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Gulf of Mexico DEAD ZONE caused by agricultural runoff from U.S. farms

Image: Gulf of Mexico DEAD ZONE caused by agricultural runoff from U.S. farms
(Natural News) Every year, a hypoxic zone appears along the Gulf of Mexico. Otherwise known as a “dead zone,” it is an area of water that contains little to no oxygen. The significantly reduced levels essentially makes the body of water a biological desert. Hypoxic zones usually occur around summertime. But while these areas are considered to be a natural phenomenon, scientists fear that increased human activity may be contributing to the number of dead zones being observed worldwide. More disturbingly, human factors may also be causing the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico to grow. Scientists predict that for this year, the hypoxic zone in the area will cover 10,089 square miles. This is about the size of Vermont. Biologists declare that bold and new approaches need to be made now to prevent a biological crisis. They have expressed a desired target reduction of 59 percent in the amount of nitrogen runoffs in the area. This would shrink the hypoxic zone to the size of Delaware.

Approaches to achieve this end are identified in a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from the University of Michigan believe that this goal is achievable, though it would require the adjustment of large scale agricultural practices. The magnitude of the problem prompted an intergovernmental panel to extend the reduction program to 2035. This should give enough time, official spokespeople of the panel say, to achieve the goal of a hypoxic zone with a size of only 1,950 square miles.

 

What truly causes a hypoxic zone is yet to be fully determined, but scientists believe that the one in the Gulf of Mexico may be due to excessive farmland runoff containing fertilizer and livestock waste.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Why human waste should be used for fertilizer

Why human waste should be used for fertilizer

Fertilizer increase crop production up to 5 times per acre. To give you an idea of how important natural-gas (feedstock and energy to make it) fertilizer is, here are a few paragraphs from Yeonmi Park’s recent book “In order to live: A North Korean girl’s journey to freedom”:

“One of the big problems in North Korea was a fertilizer shortage. When the economy collapsed in the 1990s, the Soviet Union stopped sending fertilizer to us and our own factories stopped producing it. Whatever was donated from other countries couldn’t get to the farms because the transportation system had also broken down. this led to crop failures that made the famine even worse. So the government came up with a campaign to fill the fertilizer gap with a local and renewable source: human and animal waste. Every worker and schoolchild had a quota to fill.  Every member of the household had a daily assignment, so when we got up in the morning, it was like a war. My aunts were the most competitive.

“Remember not to poop in school! Wait to do it here!” my aunt in Kowon told me every day.

Whenever my aunt in Songnam-ri traveled away from home and had to pop somewhere else, she loudly complained that she didn’t have a plastic bag with her to save it.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How to Build a Worm Tower

Wormtower - feat

HOW TO BUILD A WORM TOWER

Earth—the stuff on the ground, not the planet—is essential for life. Anyone who has a garden (or even a house plant!) has seen a microcosm of this in action. Soil isn’t just something we walk on or that plants anchor in. It’s something that nurtures us and every other form of life on the planet in some sense. Plants need rich, fertile, living soil to truly thrive.

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Human beings learned long ago that constantly growing crops (especially the same crop) on the same plot of land would diminish the soil’s ability to nurture plants. Crop rotation can help, but it’s a method that’s simply not always practical or possible. Chemical fertilizers can also help, but why spend money on a chemical product when there’s a sustainable, efficient way to feed your garden? Especially when it’s also a great way to create and use compost and very little effort on your part? That’s where creating a worm tower comes in.

A worm tower is, essentially, a mini worm farm that you plant in your garden, that continually feeds your garden and provides you with a rich, ongoing source of fertilizer. They’re extremely low cost to get started, exceptionally simple to make, and nearly effortless to maintain. The only real question to ask yourself is Why don’t I already have one?

Well, here’s how you remedy that:
• A two to four foot PVC (food grade only) or concrete pipe, five or more inches in diameter
• A shovel
• A drill (optional)
• Compost worms (at least fifty)
• A bag of manure (any type)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Record-Breaking 2015 Temperatures Connected To Ongoing Fish Kill on Mississippi Beaches

Record-Breaking 2015 Temperatures Connected To Ongoing Fish Kill on Mississippi Beaches

Cleanup crews were dispatched to beaches in Hancock County, Mississippi, on December 27th to remove over a thousand dead fish and the remains of other animals.

Scientists attributed the fish kill to a “red tide” algae bloom that took hold in early December. It won’t go away until temperatures drop and fresh water from the north spilling out from the Mississippi moves through the area.

”Red tides produce neurotoxins that affect not only marine life, but humans who can breathe it in when it is aerosolized by wave action,” Jennifer Hecker, director of natural resource policy for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida, wrote on a social media post about the fish kill. “Some scientists believe exposure can contribute to human nervous disorders such as Parkinson’s…not just an eyesore.”

Although red tides are a natural occurrence along the Gulf Coast, they don’t occur in the winter. The record-breaking temperatures and less than average rainfall have created favorable conditions for the red tide.

Nutrients from fertilizer, human wastewater, and animal waste all contribute to increasing severity and duration of red tide events,” Hecker wrote.


Black drum fish pickup off the beach in Waveland, Mississippi. ©2015 Julie Dermansky

Two days later I caught up with a crew as they hoisted large black drum fish into a Caterpillar vehicle following behind them. Once full, the Caterpillar operator dumped the fish into a truck following along side on the road that parallels the beach.


Cleanup crew picking up black drum fish in Waveland, Mississippi. ©2015 Julie Dermansky


Caterpillar operator dumping fish in a truck in in Waveland, Mississippi. ©2015 Julie Dermansky

Most of the fish being picked up were black drum fish, some weighing as much as 50 pounds. The waters off Hancock County are the species’ breeding ground and their spawning period is about to begin, so schools continue to swim into the area.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Salting the Economy to Death

Salting the Economy to Death

One popular delusion that won’t seem to go away is the notion that policy makers can stimulate robust economic growth by setting interest rates artificially low.  The general theory is that cheap credit compels individuals and businesses to borrow more and consume more.  Before you know it, the good times are here again.

Profits increase.  Jobs are created.  Wages rise.  A new cycle of expansion takes root.  These are the supposed benefits to an economy that central bankers can impart with just a little extra liquidity.  Unfortunately, this policy antidote doesn’t always work out in practice.

Certainly cheap credit can have a stimulative influence on an economy with moderate debt levels.  But once an economy has reached total debt saturation, where new debt fails to produce new growth, the cheap credit trick no longer works to stimulate the economy.  In fact, the additional credit, and its counterpart debt, actually strangles future growth.

Present monetary policy has landed the economy at the unfavorable place where more and more digital monetary credits are needed each month just to stand still.  After seven years of ZIRP, financial markets have been distorted to the point where a zero bound federal funds rate has become restrictive.  At the same time, applications of additional debt only serve to further the economy’s ultimate demise.

The fundamental fact is that the current financial and economic paradigm, characterized by heavy handed Federal Reserve intervention into credit markets, is dying.  Debt based stimulus is both sustaining and killing the economy at the same time.

No doubt, this is a strange situation that has developed.  For further instruction, let’s look to California’s San Joaquin Valley…

The World’s Richest Agricultural Valley

Dropping down the backside of the grapevine from the Tejon Pass, along Interstate 5 between Los Angeles and San Francisco, one is greeted by an endless sea of agricultural fields.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

5 signs of trouble for Saskatchewan’s economy in oil slump

5 signs of trouble for Saskatchewan’s economy in oil slump

Many said province could withstand economic blows from oil and gas, but there are troubling signs

When crude oil prices began to plummet, economists comforted Saskatchewan residents that their diversified economy would safeguard them during the oil and gas slump.

In fact, Saskatchewan’s economy isn’t that diverse.

The province relies heavily on natural resources: fuel, food and fertilizer.

fi-oil-pump-jacks-sask

The Canadian Association of Oil Drilling Contractors forecasts it will drill half as many wells in 2015 compared to 2014.

And while economists were banking on the agriculture and potash industries to offset energy losses, they’re no longer confident that will happen.

The potash industry remains strong in production, on par with its growth last year, but nitrogen prices have fallen about $60 US a tonne.

Most worrisome, it’s shaping up to be a disappointing crop year for many Saskatchewan farmers, thanks to an unwelcome mixture of spring frost, drought and poorly timed rains.

While cattle prices remain high, drought has jeopardized hay yields and could force some ranchers to sell off their herd.

The Bank of Montreal has already downgraded its growth projection for Saskatchewan this year from one per cent to half a per cent.

“It’s disappointing,” chief economist at the Bank of Montreal, Douglas Porter, said. “The likelihood of a pretty tough crop this year further dims the outlook for western Canada.”

The Royal Bank of Canada told CBC News it expects to downgrade its growth projection next month as well.

Premier Brad Wall says he’s still confident the province can overcome economic pressures, and points to his government’s four-year plan to spend $5.8 billion on infrastructure.

Still, there are already red flags for the economy. Here are five signs of trouble:

1. Housing sales

The honeymoon is over for Saskatchewan’s housing boom.

The Canadian Real Estate Association predicts house sales in Saskatchewan will decline by nearly 13 per cent this year.

 

 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

With Too Much of a Good Thing, Europe Tackles Excess Nitrogen

With Too Much of a Good Thing, Europe Tackles Excess Nitrogen

In Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and other countries, European governments are beginning to push farmers, industry, and municipalities to cut back on fertilizers and other sources of nitrogen that are causing serious environmental harm.

by christian schwagerl

Only seconds after Claudia Wiedner drops the metallic rod into the gray waters of Lake Scharmützel, 30 miles southeast of Berlin, the probe starts sending signals back to her computer. On a cold, foggy day in March, Wiedner, a limnologist at the Brandenburg University of Cottbus-Senftenburg, and a research technician are out on the water in their small vessel to investigate nitrogen pollution.

The water samples they pull up tell an encouraging tale — at least in this lake. “We have been measuring reactive nitrogen and phosphorus in this lake since 1993 and what we see is a change for the better — levels have dropped considerably,” Wiedner says. Her colleague, Ingo Henschke, an avid diver and former fisherman, can attest to this, saying that better sewage treatment and a decrease in nearby farming have significantly improved water quality.

“I was able to document a return of large swaths of stoneworts algae and the rich water life they sustain,” Henschke says. 

But Scharmützel Lake is an exception in Germany — it serves as a kind of gold standard for positive changes. For like the rest of Europe and much of the world, Germany’s waterways are suffering from a surplus of nitrogen that is spread across fields as fertilizer, pours off of farms where livestock and chickens are raised, or flows out of factories, sewage systems, and wastewater treatment plants. The result is harmful algal blooms in lakes, dead zones in oceans, and an impoverishment of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity — problems that the European Union is now trying to address. 

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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