Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Oilseed meals: Soybean, flax seed, rapeseed, and cottonseed meals that are
mostly GMO and have been processed with petroleum-derived hexane solvent to
extract the oils. The meal left after extraction is used for animal feed as well as
“organic” agriculture. This seed meal contains up to 0.5% hexane residues,
enough to kill baby pigs. Hexane is an extremely cheap byproduct of gasoline
refining; Overton SV and JJ Manura (1997) found higher than expected levels of
pentane, hexane, heptane, octane and benzene derivatives in all 6 hexane
extracted cooking oil samples tested. If those solvents are in the vegetable oils,
they are in the seed meals as well.
Amoderate-sized 100,000 bushel per day soybean oil extracting facility can lose
6,000 pounds of hexane per day to the environment (atmospheric leaks from
distillation, decanting, open vessels, and the meal).
Only one USDANational Organic Program allowed source, Chile nitrate of soda,
does not come from either industrial agriculture, industrial trawling of ocean fish, or
confined animal feeding operations. Chile nitrate of soda needs to be imported
from SouthAmerica and is limited in usefulness because of its high Sodium
content.
Does this make sense, that the only N sources allowed in what is supposed to be
ethical and healthy agriculture come from GMO, chemically farmed,
herbicide-sprayed seeds contaminated with hexane and other petroleum solvents,
from giant factory ships sweeping up all sea life, or from grim, unnatural animal
factories?
On the other hand, ammonium sulfate, urea and other “synthetic” Nitrogen
fertilizers are readily available N sources made from atmospheric Nitrogen. They
can be made anywhere rather than needing long distance transportation. No
animals are mistreated in their manufacture. No oceans are seined by giant factory
ships. They are not GMO, not chemically contaminated, and contain only pure
forms of the desired plant nutrients.
Which Nitrogen source is cleaner, healthier, and more ethical to use?
Making “Synthetic” Nitrogen
The main process used for extracting N from the air, the Haber-Bosch, produces
ammonia.
“The Haber process, also called the Haber
-
Bosch process, is the industrial
implementation of the reaction of nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. It is the main
industrial route to ammonia:
N
2
+ 3 H
2
2 NH
3
