Without phosphorus, food cannot be produced. Put simply, if there is no phosphorus, there is no life. Most phosphorus comes from non-renewable phosphate rock and it cannot be synthesized artificially. Some 85 per cent of the world’s remaining high-grade phosphate rock is concentrated in just five countries: Morocco, China, Egypt, Algeria and South Africa. Seventy
Opinion: Sleepwalking into a phosphorus crisis
Mined phosphorus is a key to the food system but it’s in limited supply