Phosphorus and Potassium levels in soil 'diminishing'

Levels of the minerals phosphorous and potassium are significantly low in the country's soil, according to an announcement made at a seminar in the UK this week.

The shortage is posing a threat to crops, stated TAG UK potato specialist Denis Buckley at the Cambridgeshire conference, as growers are failing to apply the full amount of phosphates needed from season-to-season.

He stated that this is partly down to growers renting land from farmers attempting to cut costs amid the current economic crisis, reported the Framers Guardian online.

"Typically, no-one is putting phosphate on cereals, so soil levels in the UK are in decline, which is a big problem for the potato crop," he warned.

Further soil news this week came in the form of an announcement by the University of Toronto Scarborough, which declared that studying the molecular structures of soil could reveal information about climate change.