Illinois study proposes circular phosphorus economy for Midwest
Friday, December 13, 2019 - 08:50
in Earth & Climate
The U.S. Midwest produces at least a third of the world's corn and soybean supply each year. Feeding the world requires a lot of fertilizer, mostly in the form of nitrogen and phosphorus. While nitrogen can literally be pulled out of the air, phosphorus has to be mined from finite phosphate rock reserves and treated to be made available to plants. Most of the world's phosphate rock is in Morocco, and at some point these reserves will run out.