Why Farmers Are Flocking to Manure

The main reason that manure is suddenly seen as a science is that chemical fertilizer prices are on the rise

The laugh of the day now is that maybe manure [sh*t] will become more pricey than food

THEATLANTIC Dec 2, 2010 | I half-jokingly suggested about a year ago that animal manure—used livestock, horse, and chicken bedding—was going to be the hottest commodity on the Chicago Board of Trade one of these days. Shortly after that I got a call from a close acquaintance who manages an awesome business of growing 8,000 acres of corn and soybeans—which he knows I consider insane. He wanted to tell me something I never expected to hear from him: He was thinking of going into the feedlot beef business. I reminded him that this is rarely profitable in Ohio except as a tax shelter, but he said he didn't care if it only broke even. It was the manure that he was after, for fertilizer. And he had not read what I had been writing in that regard…I almost dropped the phone…

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