Phosphate has many links to life
The Florida Phosphate Council, made up of industry representatives, is quick to point out the importance of phosphate to agriculture.
"Phosphate feeds you," the council's motto states, underlining the fact that phosphate is one of three main ingredients in fertilizers. Others in the phosphate industry pride themselves on "feeding the world."
In "Phosphorus for Agriculture," a 1999 publication of the Potash & Phosphate Institute, David W. Dipp, president of the association, notes that the need for phosphate often goes "largely unmentioned."
Phosphorus is one of 17 nutrients essential for plant growth, but it is actually necessary for all life. The backbone of DNA, which contains the blueprints of genetic codes, is a sugar-phosphate compound.
Humans derive needed phosphate from milk, lean beef, potatoes, broccoli, wheat flower and cheddar cheeses.
Plants draw their needed phosphate from soils, and, when soils are nutrient deficient, from chemical fertilizers. And the phosphate for fertilizer comes from phosphate rock, like the deposits found in Florida's Bone Valley.
Phosphate formed in sedimentary rocks and the fossilized remains of plant and animal life. Bone Valley is especially rich with fossils of the animal and marine life left from shallow seas covering most of the state.
Ninety percent of the phosphate mined is used in fertilizers. However, phosphate compounds can also be found in animal foods, detergents and cleaners, toothpaste, soft drinks, baking power and other foods.
The United States is the leading producer of phosphate, responsible for 34 percent of the world production. In 1996, the U.S. mined 51 million tons of phosphate, out of the 149 million tons mined worldwide. Eighty-six percent of U.S. phosphate is mined from Florida and North Carolina, with the remaining ore drawn from Idaho and Utah.
Half of the phosphate mined in the United States is exported. And according to industry experts, nearly half of the exported phosphate is shipped to the People's Republic of China. The Republic of Korea, Japan and India are other major importers of U.S. phosphate.
You can e-mail Steve Reilly at reilly@sun-herald.com
By STEVE REILLY
Staff Writer
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