How the war makes food more expensive
The industrial food system depends on fossil fuels for fertilizer. Shutting down the Strait of Hormuz just before the spring planting will raise food prices.
The industrial food system depends on fossil fuel
Urea is the world’s most common nitrogen fertilizer — the white granules that farmers spread on fields to make crops grow. It’s the chemical feedstock for nearly half the world’s food. It’s made from ammonia, and ammonia is made by superheating natural gas.
That fuel passes through a 21-mile wide choke point.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=65504
Gulf states export a lot of fertilizer
Asia is particularly vulnerable to being cut off
2024, Global dependency on Gulf fertiliser exports by regions Kpler
The Ukraine war resulted in fertilizer price spikes, which accompanied food price spikes
The US Farm Bureau is worried
Global Consumers should be too
Natural farming or do-nothing farming, was proposed by Fukuoka in his seminal 1978 book, The One-Straw Revolution, and follows five principles: no tillage, no fertilizer, no pesticides or herbicides, no weeding, and no pruning. This is the way to go for sustainable agriculture with no external inputs. The yields were comparable to industrial agriculture. Ideally, the holdings are smaller so more people can live off the land that is self-sustaining - Small is beautiful, is it not?
And maybe reserve 60-70% of the land reserved for evolution to take its natural course for all living things.
Would this issue not make aquaponics an attractive option since fertilization would come from fish waste?