Without phosphate, we cannot produce food. As an essential nutrient in fertilisers, phosphate ensures the world’s agricultural soils are fertile, crop yields are high, farmer livelihoods are supported and ultimately that the global population can be fed.
Yet it is uncertain whether the world’s main source of phosphate will be available and accessible in the future. Phosphate rock is becoming increasingly scarce, expensive to extract and concentrated in only a few countries.
Phosphorus is also mismanaged: four fifths is lost or wasted in the supply-chain from mine to field to fork. Elemental ensures a domestic and sustainable supply of clean phosphate.