Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer


	Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer

JICWyllie

4-30-2008 11:32 AM

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tags:

food, fertiliser, i-supply, i-decrease, i-demand, i-increase, i-risk

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/aaaccec3-2137-4a9c-8582-200c42537010/0C6A9CF8-4ACF-4402-9A35-5697CB6D8C3E/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin" style="font-size: 11px;">www.nytimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin"> the widespread use of inexpensive chemical fertilizer, coupled with market reforms, helped power an agricultural explosion </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Yields of rice and corn rose, and diets grew richer.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Now those gains are threatened in many countries by spot shortages and soaring prices for fertilizer, the most essential ingredient of modern agriculture.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">The squeeze on the supply of fertilizer has been building for roughly five years. Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to plant more crops. As demand grew, the fertilizer mines and factories of the world proved unable to keep up.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Some dealers in the Midwest ran out of fertilizer last fall</blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss" style="font-size: 11px;">www.nytimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">Overall global consumption of fertilizer increased by an estimated 31 percent from 1996 to 2008, driven by a 56 percent increase in developing countries</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">At least 50 plants to make nitrogen fertilizer are under construction, many in the Middle East </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">Without chemical fertilizer</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/business/worldbusiness/30fertilizer.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">The game is over.”</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/0C6A9CF8-4ACF-4402-9A35-5697CB6D8C3E/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>