Grown for centuries by indigenous farmers in rural Mexico, this incredibly rare corn can self-fertilise. In episode three of 'Planet Fix', we explore how this wonder crop could help tackle world hunger, and even end farming's toxic reliance on chemical fertilisers for good! Best of Earth Lab: http://bit.ly/EarthLabOriginals Best of BBC Earth: http://bit.ly/TheBestOfBBCEarthVideos #Maize #PlanetFix This is a channel from BBC Studios who help fund new BBC programmes. Service information and feedback: http://bbcworldwide.com/vod-feedback--contact-details.aspx

tl;dw: There is a type of maize in Latin America that can self fertilize and nitrogen fix itself. Though a lot of this is popsci nonsense, they have been hybridizing it to a lot of success

    • Awoo [she/her]
      ·
      1 year ago

      There's plenty of nitrogen to go around, that's not going to be a problem.

      Yeah that's what people said about fossil fuels 100 years ago. I'm not talking about now I'm talking about our environmental impact in the longterm and whether it is sustainable.

      Ultimately we need to be getting ourselves to a state where we are essentially constantly performing geoengineering at a planetary scale to make our existence sustainable and stable.

        • Awoo [she/her]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I'm not saying we shouldn't. We obviously need food. I'm just curious what the actual impact is and how that would scale with all crops in the world. I'm certain there would be an impact and that something else would be needed to mitigate that impact.

          • wryso [none/use name]
            ·
            1 year ago

            Well, no, nitrogen leaving the atmosphere is just not a concern. Biomass of all plants: 500 billion tons. Biomass of all human crops: 10 billion tons. Nitrogen’s share of plant mass: 3-4%, or 400 million tons. Mass of the atmosphere: 5.5 quadrillion tons. And most of the atmosphere is nitrogen.

            • Awoo [she/her]
              ·
              1 year ago

              Huh, neat. So it'll take a few years then.

      • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Nitrogen is 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere, and is necessary for all plant growth. Either we’re taking it out of the air to make fertilizer, or the plant is doing it themselves. Currently we mostly use natural gas to produce fertilizer (methane provides the hydrogen) and this would eliminate that need.

        Also all of that nitrogen eventually makes its way back to the air, nitrogen gas is basically the most stable thing a nitrogen atom can be so eventually it makes it’s way back to that.