This is a fascinating story on today's Guardian. I've put it into the forum rather than the blog section because I feel it's all part of the natural versus synthetic chemical debate.
"The ammonia process – which uses nitrogen from the atmosphere as its key ingredient – was invented by German chemist Fritz Haber to solve a problem that faced farmers across the globe. By the early 20th century they were running out of natural fertilisers for their crops.
"The Haber plant at Ludwigshafen, run by the chemical giant BASF, transformed that grim picture exactly 100 years ago – by churning out ammonia in industrial quantities for the first time, triggering a green revolution. Several billion people are alive today only because Haber found a way to turn atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia fertiliser. "Bread from air," ran the slogan that advertised his work at the time."
Read the full article: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/nov/03/fritz-haber-fertiliser-ammonia-centenary
Views: 105
Replies
A terrible irony considering what Zyklon B was infamously used for the fact that Haber was jewish.
Apart from lawn care, for example, how many gardeners/landscapers use artificial fertiliser as a base dressing before turf laying or as pre-planting soil stimulus?
Early in my career (mid 1980s) I often used Growmore.
'Cinderella' gas a threat to climate and ozone layer
"However, the researchers were optimistic that both the warming potential and the danger to the ozone layer could be swiftly curtailed if action was taken, particularly in agriculture.
"In the agricultural sector, it comes down to using nitrogen fertiliser more efficiently, a very simple idea, to improve the uptake by crops and livestock," said Dr Alcamo.
"It has a lot to do with using the right fertiliser, in the right place."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25037861
Goodness me, we had a building boom in our area during the 70's and 80' and we managed to grab a good slice of the landscaping work, which would quite often be the basic, "prepare topsoil and sow grass seed/lay turf etc". I think some of us will remember 'builder's topsoil', so we wouldn't do a job without raking in the 'base fertilizer'(Growmore) just prior to final surface treatment! We gained much repeat work because you could see the Architect's eyes light up, as we would have the grass up, cut and looking good in a few weeks. We still have some of same relationships going today - 30 odd years later
Never worth penny pinching on the prep work......... and that includes good old growmore!!
Phil Voice said: