Here’s a follow-up to the last post about organic food being better for you: Nitrogen Fertilizers Deplete Soil Organic Carbon.

The common practice of adding nitrogen fertilizer is believed to benefit the soil by building organic carbon, but four University of Illinois soil scientists dispute this view based on analyses of soil samples from the Morrow Plots that date back to before the current practice began.
….
“What we learned is that after five decades of massive inputs of residue carbon ranging from 90 to 124 tons per acre, all of the residue carbon had disappeared, and there had been a net decrease in soil organic carbon that averaged 4.9 tons per acre. Regardless of the crop rotation, the decline became much greater with the higher nitrogen rate,” said Khan.

So once again, we get to see how conventional agribusiness actually destroys the beneficial properties of the ecosystem. The last article showed how organic growing allows plants to properly express their antioxidant properties and this one shows that overuse of chemical fertilizers actually harms the soil and yields rather than helps. And it seems logical that better soil yields better (and more) crops.

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Tags: fertilizer, organic