[Discussion Post] Are you for, against, or indifferent to chemical fertilizer use in agricultural lands?

This is the thing, most people will say you CAN'T damage soil by using only organics, but you can. Various methods that are regularly used are actually bad for the soil long term. Using, say, cow manure only as a soil amendment can build up specific things in the soil that will lead to plant disease and growth issues. Manure only use to meet all nitrogen needs for cropping will cause a build up of phosphorus to very high levels and will cause salt build up particularly in drier areas. 'Orgainc' and 'Natural' have little real meaning in soil health.

A. Nothing you do in cropping, anywhere, using any system, to grow any crop in a commercially viable way is 'natural'. It just isn't possible. All the food, fiber, etc crops we grow are forced selection for human use. They do not, and can not fit into a true ecosystem that is controlled naturally through the feedback processes that exist in nature. It just doesn't work that way.

  1. Plants don't care if the nitrogen came from poop, compost, or synthetic fertilizer. It doesn't even matter if it was spread lovingly by the hand of a racially pure virgin. The plant doesn't know the difference. Nitrogen does not have a "memory" of where it came from. (Neither does the water, boron, phosphorus, selenium, etc)

  2. Saying that one way in general is fool proof, perfect, works under all conditions, or is always better is almost always wrong. The very fact that people don't even want to admit that some of the 'organic' practices are scientifically unsound, unproven, and can even be harmful shows how far we have come in trying to not offend people who insist on all or nothing polarized thought.

Poor management is poor management. And if your first assumption is that "NOTHING I DO CAN BE WRONG BECAUSE ITS ORGANIC" your management will be flawed at best. And unproductive and damaging at worst.

/r/Soil Thread