It started with droughts in Australia and Ukraine. Wheat yields dropped and countries clamped down on grain exports. With a hungry biofuel market also gobbling up corn, the cost of food soared.
As with oil, the global supply of phosphate rock, needed for fertilizer, will eventually start to dwindle. But how soon this may occur isn’t clear (a phosphate and sulfur plant blend, shown). Heydenkaye/IstockphotoLOCKED UP | Much of the world’s phosphorus is locked up in phosphate rocks around the globe. A handful of countries have the richest phosphorus resources; shown here are nations with around a billion metric tons or more of recoverable phosphate rock supply (in metric tons).
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.
