this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2026
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I’m sorry but how is this level of response is warranted? Do you realize in a lot of areas of the world, farming landmass can be increased by significant amounts. How is this not even in the discussion if lack of fertilizer is not an option? What are we supposed to do, nothing and just die off as a civilization? Humanity has existed for an extremely long period of time without them. Modern chemical fertilizers are an extremely recent invention in the time scale of humanity. Maybe you are the one who is genuinely stupid for not even considering other options to try to survive.
How quickly do you think that will happen? Who do you think owns that land? Who is going to work that land suddenly? Where are the tools to do it? Where is the water for those plants, as in many areas you need extensive irrigation networks for that? Industrialized farming is the method that we have been feeding billions, and if you suddenly turn off one of the inputs, MANY MANY POOR PEOPLE WILL DIE. You can't just DOUBLE THE ARABLE LAND COVERAGE in a few months.
I expect that many people will try to do what you suggest and it will be woefully inadequate and there will remain a devastating famine.
And your response was "eh it'll be fine."
I mean you are talking about fertilizer availability drying up. How quickly do you think that will happen? It’s not going to stop overnight or possibly even in a season. Local stock piles, other production facilities in the world, etc. the whole world doesn’t stop due to this specifically right now. The impact this has doesn’t destroy the entire food growing ecosystem, I think you maybe making it sound beyond the end of the world. It’s not great I agree, especially for regions that serves but is it world famine causing? Most likely not. Countries can also import food stuffs from neighbors or other areas. This can be done in much shorter order than growing seasons. I mean shit, hydroponic farming is becoming rapidly increasing useful tool that can supplant a lot of outdoor farming. And there are fertilizer less options for hydroponics.
There’s definitely options here. Especially when combining capacity using numerous means for total aggregate output.