The Role of Synthetic Nitrogen

I haven't posted in quite a while - nearly a year - but lately my mind has been going back to the subject of GMOs quite frequently. It seems that writing this blog has been the beginning of a long term interest in the subject.

I have been reading Michael Pollan's books, In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemna, and both of these works have inspired quite a few daydreams about starting a garden and even keeping a milk cow. What really compelled to write a new post on this blog, however, is Pollan's explanation of synthetic nitrogen's heavy role in how we eat and how synthetic nitrogen came to fill that role. I will admit that my understanding up until I read his ingeniously simple explanation in The Omnivore's Dilemna was slight. Perhaps enviropigs deserve a second look in new light.

Section 4, There goes the sun, of Chapter 2, The Farm, Pollan explains that the widespread use of synthetic nitrogen in agriculture began after World War II when the United States was left with immense amount of ammonium nitrate, used during the war in making explosives. An excellent fertilizer, nitrogen was a resource that had not been harnessed until the early 20th century. Nitrogen is everywhere, it makes up 80 percent of the air, but there was no way to use that nitrogen because it existed in nonreactive, happy atom couples. Our supply of usable nitrogen was limited to what little was created by bacteria and lightning which could split the atom pairs and bond the single nitrogen atoms with hydrogen atoms. In 1909 Fritz Haber, a German scientist, figured out how to mimic lightning and bacteria and "fix" nitrogen. Because of this discovery, usable nitrogen went from being rare to being available in copious amounts.

Once farmers saw how their crops responded to chemical fertilizer the possibilities for raising yield might have seemed endless. Perhaps with an endless supply of nitrogen, we could succeed in making an endless supply of food. The results of that mindset is probably what the development of the Enviropig. I think this little piggy might just be treating the symptoms and not the cause.

Pollan's explanation, of course, is solidly set in context and for more interesting details and greater understanding I would recommend picking up his books.