On Tue, 24 Feb 2004 18:25:58 GMT, (The Watcher)
wrote:

One factor rarely included in the cost/benefits analysis is the problem of
possibly running out of fossil fuels(which is where many of the chemicals come
from). It's kind of hard to establish a value for that, but it might be
important somewhere down the road.

Now I'm going to have to look up how much petroleum it takes to make a
packet of MiracleGro. :-) Probably less than transporting a couple
of truckloads of manure 20 miles. Encouraging dependence on
'artificial' fertilizer (and petroleum is really 'organic'
ultra-compost) is unwise where it's expensive and organic substitutes
are readily available. When we run out of oil, it's *not* going to be
because we've been using too much commercial fertilizer.