Let’s look at what happens when barriers are put in place of synthetic fertiliser use. Sri Lanka is an example of the fallibility of organic farming on a large scale and the folly of government interventions in food and agricultural markets.
The Sri Lankan government decided in 2021 to force the entire island nation into organic farming by banning the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. The reasoning behind this was twofold: firstly, a belief that a ban would reduce healthcare costs and secondly, to reduce foreign currency outflows.
The ban resulted in drastically reduced yields for the country’s major crops of rice and tea, meaning Sri Lanka now requires much larger food imports.
Intervention in fertiliser use was a monumentally flawed policy, and many scientists and analysts raised concerns about the implications. First and foremost, it has locally exacerbated the food price inflation that the world is already suffering through. Secondly, it has caused a massive economic shock to the nation, causing protests to erupt and an inability to pay foreign debt.
They might have softened the blow by making it a slower transition. At least 10 years, but longer would’ve been better. I farm organically, and I can tell you from experience that there are some serious learning curves involved!
Plus, nurturing the soil properly means cultivating the microbes inside. It takes time to get the population of beneficial microbes up to where they can provide enough nutrition to compete with synthetic fertilizers. It can be done, and when done properly the flavor difference in the crops can be astounding. But it can’t be done quickly.