points by westurner 2 years ago

Food security has probably been an issue since forever.

History of Agriculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_agriculture :

> The development of agriculture about 12,000 years ago changed the way humans lived. They switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming. [1]

World population: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population :

> It took over 200,000 years of human prehistory and history for the human population to reach one billion and only 219 years more to reach 8 billion. [3]

Food security: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_security

Soil fertility > Soil depletion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_fertility :

> Topsoil depletion occurs when the nutrient-rich organic topsoil, which takes hundreds to thousands of years to build up under natural conditions, is eroded or depleted of its original organic material.[13] Historically, many past civilizations' collapses can be attributed to the depletion of the topsoil. Since the beginning of agricultural production in the Great Plains of North America in the 1880s, about one-half of its topsoil has disappeared. [14]

> Depletion may occur through a variety of other effects, including overtillage (which damages soil structure), underuse of nutrient inputs which leads to mining of the soil nutrient bank, and salinization of soil.

Soil management : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_management :

> Soils can sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, primarily by storing carbon as soil organic carbon (SOC) through the process of photosynthesis. CO2 can also be stored as inorganic carbon but this is less common. Converting natural land to agricultural land releases carbon back into the atmosphere. The amount of carbon a soil can sequester depends on the climate and current and historical land-use and management.[6] Cropland has the potential to sequester 0.5–1.2 Pg C/year and grazing and pasture land could sequester 0.3–0.7 Pg C/year.[7] Agricultural practices that sequester carbon can help mitigate climate change.[8] Intensive farming deteriorates the functionality of soils.

> Methods that significantly enhance carbon sequestration in soil include no-till farming, residue mulching, cover cropping, and crop rotation, all of which are more widely used in organic farming than in conventional farming.[9][10] Because only 5% of US farmland currently uses no-till and residue mulching, there is a large potential for carbon sequestration

FWIU new methods of onsite green ammonia production for fertilizer could help solve food security, but the nitrogen runoff is causing algal blooms in waterways.

A (soap-like) surfactant like JADAM Wetting Agent (JWA) which causes the applied treatments to stick to the plants might reduce fertilizer runoff levels; but Nitrogen-based fertilizer alone does not regenerate all of the components of topsoil. https://www.google.com/search?q=jadam+jwa

Mycorrhizae fungus in the soil help get nutrients to plant roots, and they need to be damp in order to prevent soil from turning to dirt due to solar radiation and oxidation. https://youtube.com/@soilfoodwebschool

Urea breaks down into Nitrogen and CO2 in the soil. Maybe that used to scale (before we had 8b people on here).

TIL that rainwater is higher in nitrogen from falling though air (which contains H2O, CO2, N, O2, CO).

Irrigation > Challenges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation :

> However, if the soil is under irrigated, it gives poor soil salinity control which leads to increased soil salinity with the consequent buildup of toxic salts on the soil surface in areas with high evaporation. This requires either leaching to remove these salts and a method of drainage to carry the salts away. Irrigation with saline or high-sodium water may damage soil structure owing to the formation of alkaline soil.

From "Idiocracy":

> "For the last time, I'm pretty sure what's killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.

>> But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes. [Sodium (NaCl), Potassium (K), Water (H2O))

TIL that basic soil and plant health and farming things are new material for me, an otherwise qualified eater.