Feature Earth

Salvage Job

With fertilizer prices skyrocketing, scientists scramble to recover phosphorus from waste

By Roberta Kwok

- More than 2 years ago

It started with droughts in Australia and Ukraine. Wheat yields dropped and countries clamped down on grain exports. With a hungry biofuel market also gobbling up corn, the cost of food soared.

As with oil, the global supply of phosphate rock, needed for fertilizer, will eventually start to dwindle.