Home | Customer Service | Tell a Friend

Home » Browse All Summaries » The War on Bugs by Will Allen

The War on Bugs

By Will Allen

Summarized with permission of Chelsea Green.
All rights reserved.

Skip to Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Liebig and the Beginnings of Chemical-Industrial Agriculture

Justus von Liebig, a German organic chemist, was the first to assert that nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were the most essential plant nutrients. He blamed the decrease in crop yields on the depletion of one or more of these essential minerals or nutrients in the soil. His ideas:

Caught the attention of American industrialists
Ushered in the era of agricultural science and soil chemistry that began in the 1840s and 1850s
Fueled the propaganda that the fertilizer merchants used to convince farmers to replace animal, mineral, and plant-based nutrients with highly toxic chemical fertilizers
Led to the wide-spread use of testing soil for essential minerals, which was used to sell large quantities of chemical fertilizers to trusting farmers

While the "soil-sampling" craze was debunked in 1852 by American chemists and Liebig eventually fell out of favor with American farmers, the idea of chemical fertilizers had taken root. The chemical-industrial agriculture market continued to be promoted by most chemists, who tried to convince farmers not to reject science or synthetic fertilizers just because some mistakes had been made in the past. Scientists and industrialists of the latter half of the nineteenth century began to talk about food shortages, and to argue that if the world's population grew exponentially, the world would soon be short of agricultural nitrogen and other fertilizing materials and thus headed for starvation. Fertilizer merchants added to the propaganda by coming up with even more innovative and often misleading advertising campaigns for chemical fertilizers.

The New Fertilizers

The next big fertilizer discovery of the 1800s was nitrate from Chile, followed by discoveries of other extensive mineral deposits such as potassium from Germany, rock-phosphate from South Carolina, and phosphorus from Florida. These discoveries, combined with farmers' new openness to purchased, scientifically-based fertilizers, created the perfect environment for the development and rapid growth of an enormous worldwide commercial fertilizer industry. Consequences of the emergence of this industry included:

Tons of toxic waste being used to fertilize both barren and fertile farms all over Europe and America
An increase in large-scale commercial farms
The mechanical challenge of moving and spreading large quantities of manure over larger commercial farms, which made it easier to market synthetic fertilizers because they were concentrated and easier to apply to large tracts of soil

Slave labor, guano, and sodium nitrate had fueled the initial agricultural expansion in the first half of the nineteenth century. With the exhaustion of Peruvian guano in the late 1860s, the fertilizer merchants convinced farmers to use endless amounts of these new "discoveries," mixed with Chilean nitrate, in order to continue the expansion of the commercial fertilizer industry.

Skip to Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

This book summary may not be copied or distributed in any form without the permission from HealthBookSummaries.com. HealthBookSummaries.com assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Always work with a qualified health professional before making any changes to your diet, prescription drug use, lifestyle or exercise activities.

Summary Sponsors

50% Off One of the World's Most Nutritious Superfoods!
100% pure nutrition from nature's most powerful plants.
"It's simply the best" -- Mike Adams
Click here to find out more!

Attention Back Pain Sufferers…
Find out how over 40,000 people have eliminated their back pain. It's easy and you could be next...
Click Here for More Information

Super-Health Never Tasted So Good!
The leader in superfood nutrition.
"LivingFuel is nothing short of phenomenal" -- Mike Adams
Click here for a special Health Book Summaries deal - 2 free books with your purchase

Save up to 80% on Vitamins, Supplements and Natural Products
Over 400 quality name brands to chose from!
Click here to start saving your health AND money today

Find Out Why More Athletes and Health Advocates are Switching to SunWarrior
The new age of protein powders. Sunwarrior is 100% raw vegan, bio-fermented without nasty chemicals and has a full spectrum of amino acids for building lasting strength.
Click here now to discover the difference for yourself!
Free Shipping on Select Orders

100% Chemical Free, Laundry Soap that Grows on Trees!
This is a "miracle" laundry product made by Mother Nature that contains absolutely no harmful chemicals or perfumes keeping you and your family safe.
Click here for toxin-free laundry soap today!

Free Gift for Health Book Summaries Readers
Get a FREE gift filled with motivation and advice that will help you reach new levels of energy and motivation.
Click here now to get your free gift
Including exclusive health interviews!

If you have a business in the health industry and want to reach your target audience, then please visit our website to access our affordable advertising packages. We work hard to make sure our sponsors get the best value and service. Click here to view our downloadable ad kit.

HealthBookSummaries.com © 2008 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms | HealthBookSummaries.com assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All content, descriptions, trademarks, registered trademarks and service marks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners, authors and publishers.

The War on Bugs

Liebig and the Beginnings of Chemical-Industrial Agriculture

The New Fertilizers

New Summaries