Achieving Sustainable Phosphorus Use in Food Systems through Circularisation

Abstract

The notion of a phosphorus (P) circular economy provides the philosophy, framework, and opportunity to enable food production systems to become more efficient, sustainable, and resilient to a future P scarcity or sudden price shock. Whilst P recovery and recycling are central strategies for closing the P cycle, additional gains in environmental performance of food systems can be obtained by further minimising the amounts of P (a) introduced into the food system by lowering system P demand and (b) lost from the system by utilising legacy P stores in the landscape. This minimisation is an important cascading component of circularisation because it reduces the amounts of P circulating in the system, the amounts of P required to be recycled/recovered and the storage of unused P in the landscape, whilst maintaining agricultural output. The potential for circularisation and minimisation depends on regional differences in these P flow dynamics. We consider incremental and transformative management interventions towards P minimisation within circular economies, and how these might be tempered by the need to deliver a range of ecosystem services. These interventions move away from current production philosophies based on risk-averse, insurance-based farming, and current consumption patterns which have little regard for their environmental impact. We argue that a greater focus on P minimisation and circularisation should catalyse different actors and sectors in the food chain to embrace P sustainability and should empower future research needs to provide the confidence for them to do so without sacrificing future regional food security.

A Global Perspective on Integrated Strategies to Manage Soil Phosphorus Status for Eutrophication Control without Limiting Land Productivity

“…Drawdown may not be feasible on some farms due to the P loading pressures imposed by high livestock intensities and the need to recycle livestock manures. Improved governance of P at catchment and regional scales will be needed in these situations to help balance out the distribution of these valuable secondary resources more evenly (Withers et al, 2018). There is also still a need to increase P fertilizer applications in certain regions limited by P (Macdonald et al, 2011; Sharpley et al, 2018); therefore, reducing unnecessary P inputs in regions with already excessive soil P fertility potentially frees up P to move to P‐deficit regions without exhausting finite and critical global P reserves (Dumas et al, 2011).…”

Anthropogenic global shifts in biospheric N and P concentrations and ratios and their impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, food security, and human health

“…The consensus indicates that “increasing the use and cycling efficiencies of P” will be the most effective approaches to prevent P scarcity for food production and reduce environmental problems involving P (Hanserud, Brod, Ogaard, Müller, & Brattebo, ; Melia, Cundy, Sohi, Hooda, & Busquets, ; Rahman et al, ; Suh & Yee, ; Weikard, ; Withers, Rodrigues, et al, ). The direct recovery of P from all types of waste may yield large proportions of previously used P, reducing the need to exploit and release novel sources of bioactive P into the P cycle (Withers, Doody, et al, ), where secondary fertilizers are produced using recovered P (Hanserud et al, ; Jedelhauser & Binder, ; Talboys et al, ; Weikard, ). The efficiency of P recovery in some countries such as Finland and Denmark has reached 67.5% and 53.7%, respectively, but only 0.5% in the United States, a high P consumer (Rahman et al, ).…”

A Global Perspective on Phosphorus Management Decision Support in Agriculture: Lessons Learned and Future Directions

“…The development of regional and national organizations to integrate P management will also require coordination with the recycling of recovered P from waste streams (Booker et al, 1999; Le Corre et al, 2009). Lessening the use of mined P while encouraging the increased use of recycled P will help extend the lifetime of this nonrenewable resource and bring society closer to sustainable P management (Withers et al, 2018). Decision support tool developers should consider integrating cost estimates for recycled P use in addition to other off‐farm P sources.…”