Well, we waited two days for an air conditioner hose, but when we got going, we got going. We are applying fertilizer to the cotton. [BTW-I wish the photo could show how great the cotton is doing. This warm weather has it popping.]
We have also put the last irrigation on the oats. We should cut those in a few weeks.
Watching the fertilizer rig in the field reminded me of one night in grad school-
Broken Nitrogen Cycle
By Paul H. Betancourt
Copyright May 2013
I had a professor
in grad school who is a self-described radical environmentalist. One night he
got up on his soap box and preached away for three hours on the evils of
pesticides and the big chemical companies. After wards I went up and chatted
with him. I said, “You missed the point… I can fit all the pesticides and
herbicides I use in the course of a year in the back of my truck. Some of that
stuff costs $500/ gallon so we put it out with an eye dropper. Fertilizer,
however, I buy by the truck load.” He asked why I didn’t mention that in class.
I told him he hadn’t even taken a deep breath for three hours. How was I
supposed to get a word in edgewise? He kind of hung his head a bit in
agreement.
After
that we had a decent conversation about something that really matters, but
rarely gets talked about. We have a broken nitrogen cycle. We make nitrogen
fertilizers out of fossil fuels, use it once and then flush down the toilet. I
told my prof that if he really wanted to do something useful for the
environment he would figure a way to recycle some of that nitrogen. We would
starve to death without modern fertilizers, but we have to find a way to close
that nitrogen cycle. This is the kind of thing I mention in my book ‘Ten
Reasons: Finding Balance on Environmental Issues,’ we need more bench science
for problem solving and less lawsuits.
Anyone got any ideas?
I hope you all have a fabulous week.
P
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