Let's go back to using manure and other green myths

in Pennsylvania Dutch country, the smells of spring is not the smell of flowers but the odor of Manure, used by the Amish to fertilizer their fields.

we do organic farming, which is popular among the church outreach types and the government (never mind that it means we have to import our rice, it will keep the Pope happy.) And with the bishops pushing the idea not to invest in fossil fuels, presumably the next step is going back to plowing with a waterbuffalo.

Here, years ago, the farms were given to their cultivators with land reform, but now their kids and grandkids are educated and have migrated to cities or are working overseas, so there aren't a lot of people who know how to do this.

To save the beloved Waterbuffalo, Erap started dairies to use the high cream milk products (which we buy locally for our consumption), and we still hold races to keep up the interest in breeding these friendly beasts:

but mainly, the waterbuffalo has been replaces with the handplow, (sort of a large roto tiller) for small farmers, and in many places, as more people move to the cities, we will start imitating China and Japan and use  mechanized tractors/tiller/planters.

Quick lesson in traditional rice growing:

You have to flood the fields, and when it is sticky mud, you plow under the plants/weeds/left over straw. This gets rid of weeds but also fertilizes the fields naturally: but often you have to add minerals to the soil, and of course you add fertilizer.

PhilippineRice Institute has an article explaining what needs to be done to prepare the fields LINK.

'

this is a man using a handplow to prepare the mud; 

the next step is to plant rice seedling, which are started in a small box or bought. For the winter dry season, you simply plant the seeds, so it takes longer to grow. 

If you use seedlings and enough fertilizer, and have irrigation available, you can actually get three plantings a year, but for us usually it is two plantings on our low fields and one on the higher rice fields where irrigation is too expensive for us to plant rice. (we have fruit and greenhouse organic vegetables on these fields, but since the last typhoon destroyed the plastic greenhouses, we aren't doing this at present).

The government is pushing organic growing. Part of this is because the elites love green ideas (ignore how that policy has resulted in famine in SriLanka ). But because the price of labor here is higher than elsewhere, it is cheaper to import rice and grow other things for export, (and that includes gourmet organically grown brown rice and specialty black and red rice to export) and of course, because people learn English and blue collar skills are taught, ten percent of our people work overseas because of not enough local  jobs (it's the corruption stupid).

Importing rice has not been a problem, but with the latest problems of a fertilizer shortage, it could be a problem in the near future.

but the real worry is that the huge increase in the price of fuel and fertilizer is going to result in a rise in the price of rice.

And this problem started last year, and it is parly due to Biden shutting down the American fossil fuel industry to please his green supporters. Full explanation (2021) here: I'd say it was a conspriacy theory, but  the increase in fossil fuel prices has exacerbated the problem long before the war in the Ukraine.

Instapundit links to articles where Biden/Obama mouthpieces are blaming all of this on Putin because of the Ukraine war, but you know, the fertilzer problems started before Putin went crazy so this is 

another "who do you believe: us or your lying eyes" story.

'

aka Gell-Mann amnesia effect. which says that people recognize that there is a lot of fake news and obvious errors about stuff they actually know about, yet these same people believe the news reports on things they don't know anything about: and it never occurs to them that maybe they shouldn't trust those reports too.

So yes, the Ukraine war is going to make fertilizer skyrocket even more, but it didn't start there. So why are they gaslighting farmers about this?

And then Instapundit quotes the Biden official seeing this as a good thing:

"Fertilizer shortages are real now because Russia is a big exporter of fertilizer. And even though fertilizer is not sanctioned, less fertilizer is coming out of Russia," Power said. "As a result, we're working with countries to think about natural solutions like manure and compost. And this may hasten transitions that would have been in the interest of farmers to make eventually anyway."

Hmm... guess no one in the Biden Administration reads Bloomberg,  which noted last year there is a manure shortage too.

What is missing from this is the idea that US Sanctions will stop Russia from exporting fuel and fertilizer. And right now there seems to be a lot of stuff going on about countries making deals with Russia (and China and Iran). for example: The Philippines is seeking fertilizer from China.

India for example is renewing their ties with Russia, buying fertilizer and fuel while exporting pharmacuticals.

Don't ask me. I am not a citizen, and rarely get out of the house for the last six months.

But you know, if China does not implode from over extending their covid quarantine, or by invading Taiwan, then the Russia China Iran alliance could become a real power and a threat to the American century of peace.

and in that case, a China friendly Marcos might be better for Filipinos than a Leni who toes the orders of the USA state department.