Discussion of agriculture in third world countries

Over the last decade or so, chemical fertilizers are being used increasingly in third world countries.  This is a good thing in some ways and a negative thing in other, perhaps more important ways.

First of all, it is good that poorer, undereducated people are able to use modern technology to increase harvests and more food is a good thing.  Especially in these places where people are having trouble getting nutrition.  Nutrition is getting more and more difficult to produce for the growing populations, so it's a good thing that they're able to produce more food.

One negative consequence of this increase is that there is more chemical run-off of fertilized water from the fields, into waterways, which eventually reach the ocean.  Phosphorous, Nitrogen and Potassium, the major elements of chemical fertilizers, are important elements for healthy plant growth.  Unfortunately, when suspended in water, they are also useful for growing algae.  Algae in the ocean or in large bodies of water, reduce evaporation from those bodies of water.

If large portions of the ocean were to get covered over with algae, then our planet could become a desert planet.  I would expect the temperatures to continue rising, and for the atmosphere to dry out.  Less cloud cover means less light is reflected back out into space, so that the problem is self-compounding.  Many of the problems that are due to carbon debt behave similarly.  The problem causes other problems which exacerbate the problem even more.

My take on the problem is that we need educated people to get involved with managing these land resources.  If there is a limited quantity of arable land in the world, and it's getting more and more important to our growing population, then why is it being managed by the poorest, most uneducated people on the planet?  I have seen some efforts by Bill Gates and others to educate these people, but it seems like it's mostly geared towards getting them to use the fertilizers, rather then getting them to use sustainable farming techniques to grow more food without the negative impacts associated with modern fertilization techniques.

Modern Agriculture

Sustainability is all about cyclic systems.  New sustainable technologies are often simply adaptations of existing systems, except with a reorientation of outputs so that less energy (and therefore money) is wasted.  Previously, packaging may have been discarded after a single use, now it is simply used several times before being composted.  Admittedly, industrial composting is a system that needs to be implemented more, and I wish I knew how to help that to occur.

The system that I use at home is a two-step process that ferments anaerobically for two weeks first and then combines with pre-composted landscape wastes for a second two weeks of aerobic composting.  It produces beautiful black compost that is rich in nutrients and is excellent for increasing the productive capacity of any kind of soil and it is completely finished in less then 4 weeks.

Industrially, it would be possible to produce a viable finished product from any kind of food waste in less then a week.  Ideally, the holding time would be closer to 2 weeks to ensure that all free energy has been consumed by the bacteria before sending out the product to be distributed in the fields.  The product would then finish decomposing in the soil, naturally buffering the pH levels of the soil and increasing fertility for the cost of transporting the product to the soil.

One of the reasons that chemical fertilizer is used in agriculture is the cost of transportation.  A ton of cow manure, for example, is extremely cheap, and it's great for the soil, but it costs a lot of money to transport.  Food wastes could be used around any city to improve agricultural operations, using these processes, instead of filling up landfills with potentially dangerous biologically active materials.  I wish I could help to implement this technology.

Agricultural Lactic Acid Bacteria (ALAB), such as those researched by Dr. Teruo Higa, are capable of speeding up the breakdown of agricultural residues and any kind of food waste quickly and safely.  They also reduce common negative odors associated with agricultural activities, such as the sometimes raunchy odor of decomposing manure.  They are cheap to manufacture and are capable of helping us to increase the fertility of our soil while reducing the costs associated with fertilization.

Written By: Paul Sober

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Low-tech Spirulina Cultivation

Method

Spirulina is quite hardy and is fairly easy to produce.  That being said, it's important to prevent drastic changes in the environment in order to maximize productive efficiency.   We start with a small culture, and place it in a 2 Liter bottle of culturing media with an aquarium bubbler, set on a regular timer, in a moderately sunny window.

Since we do not know the levels of pH and salinity originally used in our new culture, we add a few drops of our media to the culture, slowly acclimatizing it.

Culturing Media

This is a recipe for culturing media, adapted from several sources, using the cheapest, simplest ingredients available:

Starter Media (2 L):

• Sodium Carbonate (soda ash) - 2 tsp - Products sold for use in pools often contain additional compounds.  Stick with lab or technical grade.  The arm and hammer laundry soda seems to be ok.
• Sea Salt (NaCl) - .5 tsp - Provides micronutrients and sodium.
• Compost tea (2 L) - Properly filtered, this provides soluble minerals
• Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp - Adjusts pH
• Potassium Nitrate - 1/2 tsp - Provides extra Nitrogen in order to increase density potential. 

It is important to have sufficient sodium, carbon, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous.  Additionally, micronutrients such as iron, calcium and magnesium are important elements for the algae's growth.  We have had success using mineral rock powder for micronutrients without clouding the media excessively.

Replacement Media:

As you harvest, you will need to replace minerals taken out by the spirulina.  I am currently working on a suitable non-sterlizing fertilizer blend.  There aren't many vendors in this area who deal in the various fertilizers that are available.

Other Notes

Do not use Miracle-gro, or any other fertilizer that contains muriate of potash as a potassium source.  In liquid, this element breaks down to potassium and chlorine, which will sterilize your colony, just as it sterilizes soil. 

Urea is a decent protein source in moderation, but it can overload your culture, so be careful.

References:

• Antenna Technologies Spirulina Culturing Booklet
• Aquaponic Lynx Spirulina Culturing
• Potash tonnage prices
• 50# kelp 
• potassium information
• why muriate of potash is bad