For The Love of Soil addresses and answers most of the issues you raise in support of synthetic fertiliser based farming. There's no point in resorting to extensive cut/pasting from it to support this.
Regarding the use of poultry manure based products to stimulate soil biological activity this can just as effectively be done using fish waste based products and a wide variety of other nitrogen rich products. Even the 180 chicken farm in NZ aren't going to come close to providing the fertiliser requirements of our farming sector particularly if you are using the elemental N export/input model.
Your reference to RPR is correct in that it requires soil acidity to activate it into a soil soluble form. Of course this is done chemically by using sulphuric acid to produce super phosphate, which in term has an acidifying effect on soils which then needs to be addressed by way of heavy liming. In a biologically active soil this acidification occurs from the action of humic acids. Also the limited supply of RPR globally is seen as a future limiting factor for our farming sector as this is an element sadly lacking in our own soils. One upside to reduced RPR importation will be a linked reduction of the cadmium content in our soils, pastures and meat and dairy products which has already become an alarming potential barrier to exports of our produce to many countries. Along with the USDA's increased sensitivity to the use of CCA treated fencing, the European's moves to limit food miles and the coming restrictions and cost transferral related to climate change activities, it is yet another case of our 'chickens coming home to roost' in regard to our long established farming practices that are now recognised as having significant downstream effects.
In regard to your pasted text I have had sufficient exposure to academics and other so called experts in my time in university, orcharding and Organics certification bodies to be very wary of the financial interests that often shape their opinions. As in all political and business information streams it is a matter of 'following the money'.
The ongoing theme that Nicola follows in her book is that less can usually be more. The farmer's primary driver is their bottom line but their is more than just increased production levels that are key to maximising profits. Many of those that are now practicing regenerative agricultural successfully enjoy major savings in fertiliser inputs as well as animal health cost reductions. I've also seen many examples of well run Organic farming enterprises reduce their vet bills to a fraction of those they paid under conventional farming practices. Those sort of savings offset the reduced stocking levels to a significant degree so therefore the threat of reduced income and more expensive produce isn't what many from conventional farming mindsets portray.
In particular New Zealand is probably the farthest from its major markets of any trading nation and therefore we have the best reason to be adding value to our exported products. The more is better model just isn't going to work for us as this isolation increasingly adds to the costs we must incur in getting our produce to market. Selling whole sheep carcasses went down the tubes largely for this reason but we are still exporting milk with the water removed as a large proportion of our dairy exports. And I don't need to explain the folly of exporting whole logs. We must add value to our exported produce in order to maintain its viability. We need to fill the same amount of shipping containers with more valuable contents rather than filling more containers with the same low value dross. Sustainably produced primary produce is a step in the direction we must take to maintain relevance in international markets and the inward reflection that will happen as we move forward from this dark period will make our customers increasingly sensitive to their wants and needs, particularly in terms of the health of them and their environment. This is a huge potential marketing opportunity for New Zealand if we will only recognise its real implications.
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