The piece does not suggest that alternative means of fertilizing could maintain the positive trend line of efficient crop production, which is essential. Fortunately, the U.S. is a world leader in natural gas resources. We need to boost our domestic natural gas production to meet the market demand.
Yes space did not permit a discussion of the alternatives to current N production. Also I may not properly understand them.
Growth rates like the trend line in yield discussed here tend sadly not to be sustainable long term, so I hope it isn't essential to stay on this curve! The version for semiconductors, Moore's Law, has been running into hard physical limits recently too.
I'd rather focus on adapting the food system so it's not dependent on solving everything for yield and "efficiency". I hope to talk about these in future articles, editors permitting!
The piece does not suggest that alternative means of fertilizing could maintain the positive trend line of efficient crop production, which is essential. Fortunately, the U.S. is a world leader in natural gas resources. We need to boost our domestic natural gas production to meet the market demand.
Thanks SG for the comment!
Yes space did not permit a discussion of the alternatives to current N production. Also I may not properly understand them.
Growth rates like the trend line in yield discussed here tend sadly not to be sustainable long term, so I hope it isn't essential to stay on this curve! The version for semiconductors, Moore's Law, has been running into hard physical limits recently too.
I'd rather focus on adapting the food system so it's not dependent on solving everything for yield and "efficiency". I hope to talk about these in future articles, editors permitting!