by Lawrence Wilson, MD

SUPERPHOSPHATE OR N-P-K FERTILIZERS

The story of superphosphate fertilizers is an interesting one. Around the turn of the 20^th century, more precisely around 1905, it was discovered by agricultural scientists that a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium or potash, when applied correctly to the soil and to plants, would vastly increase the yield of the crops. This was a stunning discovery because low crop yields are a cause of starvation, and because the commercial value of the farm and the famer could be vastly increased by increasing how much food each farmer and each acre of land can produce. So this caused quite a stir in the agricultural world, and forever changed the face of modern agriculture.

With this brief history, let us discuss how these fertilizers work and their positive and negative effects on crops, on the soil and on human health.

EFFECTS OF SUPERPHOSPHATES ON THE SOIL

The effects of the superphosphates on the soil took about twenty years or more to begin to discover, and we are still discovering them. The first effect was a depletion of trace minerals such as zinc and selenium, in particular, as well as magnesium. This occurs for at least two reasons:

1. The increased yield of acreage or crops meant that more trace elements went into the crops which were then removed. So the soil simply needed to be replenished more, and the farmers did things the old way and have not, to this day, figured out or wanted to spend the money to replenish all of the trace minerals that are depleted when their soil yields a higher acreage or tonnage of crops.

2. The second apparent reason for the depletion of the trace minerals is due to some changes in the soil itself. By stimulating plant growth, the superphosphates also shift the soil micro-organisms, and this affects exactly how the soil transmutes element and brings them up to the surface, and so on. In some mysterious ways, this can lead to depletion of particular trace minerals, and an overabundance of others. For example, there is often too much copper, but not enough zinc, selenium, magnesium and even manganese and boron as a result of feeding the crops and the soil superphosphate or N-P-K fertilizers. This is a serious problem that is still not well understood.

Superphosphates stimulate the oxidation rate of the soil. However, it appears that the superphosphates actually stimulate the soil and the plants, somewhat like speeding up the oxidation rate. This stresses the soil micro-organisms, just as forcing the body to speed up its oxidation rate with exercise or other stress also upsets its metabolism and eventually wears it out, leading to mineral imbalances.

Oddly, the imbalances it causes in the soil and those in human bodies are identical, or at least very similar. We know from hair analysis research that stressing the body with stimulants or other stressors at first uses up a little bit more calcium, magnesium and zinc. Later, it depletes selenium, more magnesium and calcium, and more zinc and chromium. A similar phenomenon appears to occur in our soils due to the use of superphosphate fertilizers, which are unfortunately the standard today in agriculture and a cause of our imbalanced soil and sick livestock and human bodies.

Pioneers in organic agriculture such as Andre Voisin, William Albrecht, and even as far back as George Carver and other great scientists warned about these effects, but have been largely ignored because the increase in crop yield is so lucrative and amazing that all else and all warning have been pushed to the side.

Only now, in the 1990s and later, have scientists begun to wonder what has been the “side effects” or adverse effects of soil stimulation. It is very analogous to the questioning that is now occurring about the wholesale use of medical drugs that mainly stimulate, suppress and alter the body at symptomatic levels while intoxicating the person and causing horrible side effects in too many cases. The excitement over drugs is similar to the excitement over superphosphates, and the financial gain for drug companies is similar to the financial gain for some large agricultural firms, so they don’t want anyone to know about the problems.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WORST PROBLEMS BESIDES TRACE MINERAL LOSSES?

Topsoil erosion and reduced soil permeability, leading to flooding and loss of valuable topsoil that will not be replaced for hundreds of years. Topsoil erosion and less permeability of the soil may not sound serious, but they are. Topsoil takes hundreds of years to form, and any loss of it is catastrophic for agriculture.

Reduced soil permeability is just as bad, or worse. Lately, for example, the United States has been plagued by flooding in the Mississippi and Missouri river deltas. Everyone shakes their head and wonders why it is worse lately.

One reason you are not hearing discussed on television because few are measuring it is that America’s soils are not nearly as permeable as they once were. This means that rain water just runs off, instead of being absorbed and held in the soil. When the water runs off, first it takes with it valuable topsoil. Some, of course, is deposited downstream, but much is just washed into the oceans where it benefits few if anyone.

Second, and more important for flooding, the water that is not absorbed becomes flood waters, that ravage towns and cities. It is a slow process, but when there are heavy rains the soil simply can no longer absorb as much water, so it forms a torrent that floods the cities and the homes. These are results of superphosphate abuse, if you will. And this is in addition to the depletion of the trace minerals, as discussed above, and other damage to the soil.

Insect and other pest infestations due to imbalanced plants, reduced soil fertility and other soil imbalances. This is the other serious effect of superphosphates on the soils of planet earth. This, of course, is another serious effect that is reducing the wonderful crop yields that superphosphates help produce.

The answer by the agricultural establishment has been to develop more and more toxic pesticides and insecticides, and more recently special strains of seeds that contain pesticides like Roundup Ready Corn and so many others that can survive the reduced soil fertility and the increased pest problems.

This movement has also brought great profits to a few companies such as Monsanto and others who genetically design the seeds and then license the farmers to use them. It is all quite despicable, however, as it is not solving the basic problem and it is causing other problems such as cross-contamination of seeds and even poorer quality foods to be produced.

Meanwhile, the pesticides are costly, harmful to the soil, animals, wildlife and humans who must work around them and eat their residues, and they are contaminating the entire planet worse each year.

Much poorer quality food. The deterioration in the nutritional quality of our food has been well-documented. In many cases, the trace mineral content, which is just one measure, has declined by over 1000% in the past hundred years. In many cases, it is even worse.

In addition to mineral and vitamin and protein losses, the food is starchier, more sugary, and loaded with chemicals, all of which promote disease in livestock and humans and anything else that eats the food. This is a major contributor to the “diseases of civilization” that now ravage America, Europe and even parts of Asia, which is quickly adopting the N-P-K mentality out of sheer economic necessity.

The soil takes up and transmits more toxic metals when there is a shortage of vital trace minerals. This is a final problem that has repercussions throughout the food chain, and at every level of agriculture and human nutrition. The food supply has not only become depleted of certain trace minerals, but it has become more toxic as well with toxic metals.

THE EFFECTS OF SUPERPHOSPHATES ON ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND LIVESTOCK

This has been touched upon. Their food is worse, their digestion is much worse, they are often stuffed with antibiotics to counter the effects, their flesh and milk contain pesticide residues, hormone residues and other toxic chemicals. Some animals, such as beef cattle, are not even as edible today, sadly, because they are hybridized and their feed is so poor. The hybrids can survive on it, but they require antibiotics, hormones and other medical drugs to survive. They are like the people who are so ill today that many seem to need drugs and operations to survive, although I question that if they would change their diets and take a few carefully chosen nutritional supplements and stop all the drugs, herbs and other things that are not really making them better.

THE EFFECTS OF SUPERPHOSPHATES ON WILDLIFE

Wildlife are often decimated by eating the crops in the fields produced with superphosphates. This is because the wildlife is not accustomed to the stimulation of poor quality, low trace-element food and they suffer diseases and death as a result. The wildlife are also often poisoned by the pesticide residues that find their way into the water supplies and the air everywhere on planet earth. They are also decimated by the drying up of their habitats as a result of the earth’s inability to absorb and hold as much water as it did previously. It is a total loss for the wildlife on the planet with few exceptions.

THE EFFECTS OF SUPERPHOSPHATES ON HUMAN BEINGS

The advent of toxic, nutritionally depleted and unbalanced food has taken a great toll on human life. While it is true that much more food has been grown using superphosphate fertilizer, the mineral content, protein content and other nutrients in the food are much lower. This apples particularly to grain, which is the staple food of the world.

Imbalances can be shown to contribute to all the major diseases of our day. Fortunately as this website documents, much of the effects can be offset or at least modified if a person will eat a diet of at least 70% cooked vegetables. However, the ravages of malnutrition continue to plague the world, and some of this, though not all, is due to the wholesale use of superphosphates without much understanding of how to perhaps attempt to balance the use of these fertilizers with enhanced nutrient return to the soil.