Transitions to sustainable management of phosphorus in Brazilian agriculture

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  • Amin Soltangheisi
    University of Sao Paulo
  • Paul John Anthony Withers
    Lancaster University
  • Marcos Rodrigues
    University of Sao Paulo
  • Teotonio S. de Carvalho
    Universidade Federal de Lavras
  • Luiz R. G. Guilherme
    Universidade Federal de Lavras
  • Vinicius de M. Benites
    Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)
  • Luciano Colpo Gatiboni
    Santa Catarina State University
  • Djalma M. G. de Sousa
    Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)
  • Rafael de S. Nunes
    Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA)
  • ciro rosolem
    São Paulo State University
  • Fernando Dini Andreote
    University of Sao Paulo
  • Adilson de Oliveira Jr
    Embrapa Soybean
  • Edson L. M. Coutinho
    São Paulo State University
  • Paulo Pavinato
    Universidade de São Paulo
Brazil’s large land base is important for global food security but its high dependency on inorganic phosphorus (P) fertilizer for crop production (2.2 Tg rising up to 4.6 Tg in 2050) is not a sustainable use of a critical and price-volatile resource. A new strategic analysis of current and future P demand/supply concluded that the nation’s secondary P resources which are produced annually (e.g. livestock manures, sugarcane processing residues) could potentially provide up to 20% of crop P demand by 2050 with further investment in P recovery technologies. However, the much larger legacy stores of secondary P in the soil (30 Tg in 2016 worth over $40 billion and rising to 105 Tg by 2050) could provide a more important buffer against future P scarcity or sudden P price fluctuations, and enable a transition to more sustainable P input strategies that could reduce current annual P surpluses by 65%. In the longer-term, farming systems in Brazil should be redesigned to operate profitably but more sustainably under lower soil P fertility thresholds.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2537
JournalScientific Reports
Volume8
Publication statusPublished - 7 Feb 2018
Externally publishedYes
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