This article originally appeared on Occupy Monsanto
NPK.
These letters are quite familiar to anyone with a little experience
gardening: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the three main fertilizer
nutrients we focus on almost exclusively today. Phosphorus and
potassium are basically rocks and have some of their own issues due to
over-mining and a few other problems. But today the concentration will
be on everyone’s favorite fertilizer: nitrogen.
Nitrogen is found in the breakdown of organic matter and as a
metabolic byproduct (interesting fact: your own pee is actually a very
potent fertilizer, and is sterile). Since we toss out such a huge
portion of our organic waste to break down in toxic garbage dumps, we
are not living sustainably in regards to this very important resource
and have chosen to go the quick fix route and rely on decayed dinosaurs
to provide us with a source. Thanks to the advent of fracking
(hydrofracturing), natural gas is now the prime source for ammonia,
which is used to supply the nitrogen portion of most fertilizers. And
those who've experienced the aftereffects of fracking firsthand are in
an uproar about the contamination of water supplies and the release of
so much methane into the atmosphere that the burnoff plumes can be seen
from space. Yet we still buy fertilizer supplied from this same supplier
to green up our lawns and gardens. And it's worth noting that our
country's top processed food ingredient, corn, is one of the most
fertilizer intensive crops in the world.
So with these developments, how could the Koch brothers
not
take notice of the fortunes they could make in the food industry? With
billions at their beck and call, as they already own a conglomerate of
petrochemical companies, the Kochs have quickly become the world’s
largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer, primarily aimed at supplying
big agriculture and industrial farms.
Koch Fertilizer’s expanded product portfolio now includes ammonia, urea,
UAN, phosphate, potash and sulfur-based products - in addition to a variety of more modern and high-powered mixed fertilizers.
An Associated Press article
explained how incredibly profitable this industry is: ”Natural gas
prices are now at about $2.50 per thousand cubic feet. At those prices,
it takes about $82 worth of natural gas to make a ton of anhydrous
ammonia, which is selling for about $800 per ton.”
Once they saw the profits in the fertilizer industry, the Kochs
decided it wasn’t enough, and they soon decided to get into the beef
industry. Their company
president, Dave Robertson,
stated
that "the only reason Koch Industries wants to be in the cattle
business is because we believe, on a large scale, we can change the way
beef production in the cattle industry works and make a very handsome
return doing it. That’s the only reason. It truly is bottom-line driven.
We’re not in the business to lose money.” And now they’ve moved into
the meat processing industry as well, with
a new company that builds kill floors, deals with processing, vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging, and more.
Monsanto and its biotech brethren have quickly taken over the seed
and pesticide industries, and we now have the fossil fuel industries
snatching up the rest. If we allow these trends to continue unabated,
what will be left for the farmers, the consumers, the environment? As
a recent acquaintance stated,
”By making the daily choice of eating processed foods and supporting
the commodity crops and factory farmed animals produced by big
agriculture, we are directly contributing to the environmental
destruction of America – and the staggering wealth of big players like
the Koch Brothers.”
Where do we go from here?
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