Bottom line:
Using high levels of common fertilisers on grassland halves pollinator numbers....
.....Increasing the amount of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus doused on agricultural grassland reduced flower numbers fivefold and halved the number of pollinating insects.
Thus confirming all the smaller studies that have gone before. But without the fertiliser it's very hard to produce enough food. That is, if you look at it differently, hard for farmers to stay in business.
Except we're talking about grassland here, used to feed animals - who need the micronutrients that come from biodiverse pasture to do well.
The more fertiliser used, the lower quality the feed produced & the higher the vets bills.
A bit like people eating too much UPF & getting ill, isn't it?
We flipped to using Hugelkultur a couple of years ago and the results have been great. Conversion to quality soil high, good sized fruit & vegies, need for fertilizer & water low.
albertains: "but without fertilizer theres no fooooood"
...... you can just admit capitalisim is destroying the earth in real time... and you cant stand to let fields rest, so you need to suck the earth fucking dry.
The title is misleading. It's not about fertilisers in general, but fertilisers on grasslands, presumably for cattle grazing. Also, it's about the effect of increased nitrogen; there is no reason to believe that “natural” fertilisers (manure...) are better than chemical ones in this respect.
Comments
Using high levels of common fertilisers on grassland halves pollinator numbers....
.....Increasing the amount of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus doused on agricultural grassland reduced flower numbers fivefold and halved the number of pollinating insects.
The more fertiliser used, the lower quality the feed produced & the higher the vets bills.
A bit like people eating too much UPF & getting ill, isn't it?
And a loooot of happy 🐝 🐝 🐝
https://bsky.app/profile/utilityaccount27b6.bsky.social/post/3lcnyfbhy5m2t
...... you can just admit capitalisim is destroying the earth in real time... and you cant stand to let fields rest, so you need to suck the earth fucking dry.