HI pangloss.

I kinda got away from the normal posts, but I am not gonna tell anyone here much about MAA that they don't know so...

I think you would have to talk with some people on the ground in Africa to get a good picture of the costs and benefits. There must be great job creation with a project like this. I know there is a theory that Western prosperity will be limited by Third world poverty, meaning that if the Third World has more income to not only subsist, but thrive and become consumers, the developed nations will see greater profits from it.

Back to soils and fertilizers. I think many fertilizers, esp nitrogen, is a bit like throwing gas on a fire made of wet wood. It gives a quick burst, but then you are still left with smoldering wood. I nthe grand scheme of things, I think the conventional, full input farmers need to adopt a few organic style methods, and if the organic farmers were allowed a few fertilizers etc at reduced rates, the whole ecosystem would benefit. The thing I often think about is that matter (and nutrients) are never really gained or lost, they just change forms and locations. The K that comes from potash goes mostly into the crop, which goes into either levestock or humans, the majority coming out as... manure. The K as well as most other nutrients come out and then often end up in waterways. This can't go on. Eventually it will have to be returned to the soils as nutrient loading is not good for the water and it will become economical to return them to the soils.

Anyhow, this is some time in the future, and I still think a potash mine close to a port is a tremendous chance to make money.