Worms & Peace

It is no great secret that global soil health and human health is in rapid decline. The United Nations states there is less than 60 years of global fertile soil, and the UK’s Environment Minister warns of less than 40 in the UK. The origins of this decline can be traced back to the beginning of chemical-dependent agriculture. The advent of synthetic fertiliser marks the beginning of a modern history of warfare; war on all living organisms, and war on humanity. The intrinsic relationship between the production of synthetic fertiliser and the manufacturing of explosives is a history worth noting, and it all began in the bucolic British countryside.

The first chemical fertiliser company was established in 1843 by John Lawes on his estate in Hertfordshire, which is now known as the Rothamstead Institute and is considered the beacon of agriculture. Prior to 1843 the work of German chemist Justus Von Liebig greatly influenced Lawes, and although his initial trials failed he is considered the ‘father of the fertiliser industry’ and coined the term ‘The Law of Minimum’, acknowledging the importance of all 14 essential nutrients to be present in the soil for healthy plant growth. Von Leibig ironically spent his later life advocating for the use of manure for healthy soil after observing the health of his garden soil decline from the use of synthetic fertilisers.

As farmers were liberated from the necessity to keep livestock as a source of fertiliser dependency on synthetic inputs grew, and manufacturers became dependent on importing nitrogen, specifically guano manure from the coastal islands belonging to Bolivia, Peru and Chile. The demand for the commodity was such that in 1879 a territorial dispute led to ‘The War of the Pacific’, and with significant financial aid from the United Kingdom Chile successfully took control of the guano rich islands from Bolivia and Peru. The connection between synthetic fertiliser and war was cemented.

The fertiliser industry proved itself to be lucrative; as the industry boomed so did the demand for nitrogen and in 1908 the German Jewish chemist Fritz Haber discovered a method for synthesizing ammonia to produce nitrates, the same method for making explosives. Immediately before the first world war, in 1913 the German chemical company BASF purchased his patent and industrialised the process under the guidance of Carl Bosch: the process is now known as the Haber-Bosch process. Haber received great recognition for his discovery and was celebrated for his contribution to feeding the world, earning him a Noble chemistry prize in 1918. Later this celebrity became notoriety, and Fritz Haber is now recognised as the ‘father of chemical warfare’. A staunch nationalist, Haber contributed to the war effort with full enthusiasm, developing explosives and chemical weapons, and led the first large scale use of chlorine gas in Ypres, Belgium, killing 1100 soldiers and injuring over 7000.

Haber was later responsible for developing Zyklon, the cyanide based pesticide which was later adapted to Zyklon-B (without odour) and used in Nazi Germany’s concentration camps, murdering millions of Jews. Whilst German civilians starved to death, Germany was using its factories to produce explosives rather than fertilizer to feed its people.