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JPMorgan warns a global food crisis could hit next year — and unlike oil, there’s no backup plan for fertilizer (moneywise.com)

submitted 2 days ago by neighbourbehaviour@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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[-] Flower@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Anybody know stocks for plants pulling nitrogen from the atmosphere and combine it with hydrogen to produce fertilizer powered by renewables? Something tells me they're going to be a lot more popular soon.

[-] sparkyshocks@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

There are 3 elements that are required for high yield on crops: nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous.

Nitrogen (in molecules usable by plants) was traditionally the bottleneck, the limiting factor, until the development of the Haber Bosch process, which allows plentiful atmospheric nitrogen to be combined with hydrogen and energy to make ammonia.

Creating green hydrogen (by cracking H2O/water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules using electrolysis) allows for the process to generate ammonia without contributing carbon to the atmosphere. That means it doesn't actually need plants or any biological feedstock for the process. Nitrogen can be fixed into the soil without plants (or fossil fuels), so that part isn't going to be the limiting factor.

I'd be much more concerned about the sources of mined potassium/potash and phosphorus/phosphates.

[-] Flower@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Potassium is from Canada. That country just thrown in a trade war. Yeah, that might worry some farmers.

[-] tpyo@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Clover has been popular for a long time as an alternative to lawns because it's low maintenance, drought resistant, fixes nitrogen, and is pollinator friendly, amongst many other reasons. It's highly underrated

This article seems to list a lot of those benefits:

https://thehomesteadinghippy.com/crimson-clover-cover-crop/

[-] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 days ago

peanuts

[-] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago

alfalfa and soybeans as well

[-] Barley_Man@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 days ago

You can grow nitrogen fixating plants as fertilizer. It's called green manure and it's used in some niche cases. The problem is that you often have to grow as large of an area with the green manure crop as you need for the actual crop so suddenly this strategy requires you to use double the land for the same yield. This is not the answer to the fertilizer crisis.

[-] impairedimperator@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 days ago

Back in the olden days you'd collect your poo for that.

[-] Flower@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

The problem is that it's human waste. It's full of different diseases, medication and other crap, and isn't a constant quality. Also, after the diarrhea salad I guess they'll not get it anywhere near crops for human consumption.

[-] impairedimperator@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Eh, worked fine enough prior to the Haber Bosch process

[-] Flower@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 days ago

With a side effect of parasites

[-] savvie@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

ok for non-food plants though

this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2026

259 points (99.2% liked)

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