Free Republic

As in several parts of the world, the use of "night soil" to fertilise crops was once common in Japan. However, the advent of sewage systems and treatment facilities, as well as chemical fertilisers, saw it fall out of fashion. About a decade ago, Japanese treatment facilities wondered if they could revive interest to avoid sewage sludge disposal -- a costly and potentially environmentally damaging process. But enthusiasm was limited until Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent the cost of chemical fertilisers soaring. That has been a bonanza for a facility in northern Japan's Tome, where sales of shimogoe were up...

Billions of people around the world face starvation if Net Zero policies ban the production of nitrogen fertiliser derived from fossil fuels. This is the stark warning from two top American scientists who say that eliminating fossil fuel-derived nitrogen fertilisers and pesticides “will result in about half the world’s population not having enough food to eat”. They add that eliminating Net Zero fertiliser will create “worldwide starvation”. In a wide-ranging paper titled ‘Challenging ‘Net Zero’ with Science‘, Emeritus Professors William Happer and Richard Lindzen of Princeton and MIT respectively, along with geologist Gregory Wrightstone, state that Net Zero – the...

“Go pee on the rhubarb!” Engineer Fabien Esculier has never forgotten his grandmother’s unconventional approach to gardening — in fact, it has inspired his career. Human urine may seem like a crude way of fertilising plants in the era of industrial agriculture, but as researchers look for ways to reduce reliance on chemicals and cut environmental pollution, some are growing increasingly interested in the potential of pee. Plants need nutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium — and we ingest these through food, before “excreting them, mostly through urine”, said Esculier, who runs the OCAPI research programme in France looking...

The Criminal Court on Wednesday sent Lebanese-Swedish man Atris Hussein, believed to be linked to the Hezbollah militant group, to prison for two years and eight months after finding him guilty on charges of illegally possessing restricted chemical substances.Hussein was arraigned in the Criminal Court on Feb 29 last year for violating the weapons control law after police seized nearly 2.8 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and urea-based fertiliser from houses he rented in Samut Sakhon on Jan 16, 2012. The chemicals, which are widely used in the agricultural sector, can be used to make bombs. The court initially sentenced him...

Note: Photo included. Trio not guilty of helping 7/7 London bombers Jury clears men of conspiring with four bombers over London 2005 explosions that killed 52 Rachel Williams guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 April 2009 17.01 BST Three British Muslims were today cleared of helping the 7 July bombers choose their targets by carrying out a reconnaissance mission in London seven months before the attacks that killed 52 people and injured almost 1,000. A jury at Kingston crown court unanimously found Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, all from Beeston, Leeds, not guilty of conspiring with the four...

DORASAN, South Korea (Reuters) - South Korea started sending fertiliser to North Korea on Saturday as part an agreement reached after rare bilateral talks that failed to persuade the North to resume negotiations on its nuclear programmes. Ending four days of talks on Thursday, South Korea agreed to ship 200,000 tonnes of fertiliser to the North after requests from its impoverished neighbour to ease food shortages that an aid official said could worsen. "We sent 50 trucks carrying fertiliser this morning and they will cross the Demilitarised Zone and arrive in Kaesong. This is the first time South Korea has...