March 13th, 2006 Seminar in Norway

posted by Michael Heim  , Norway, 31.03.2006, 10:53

Thanks for your interest in our 'steinmel' -group in Norway. I wonder how you found out about it, possibly through Hans Jacob Peters from Hamar whom you probably know? I have looked several times at your website Remineralize the Earth and found some interesting info there.

The direct link to our website is: http://www.umb.no/?viewID=13561
We intend to have it as a future platform for information.

Unfortunately there is not much information in english yet. I do not have any english version of my 2001 paper, only an abstract that you can find on the website.
Attached you will find a reference list of papers concerning rock powder in Norway.

The meeting was a great success in the way that people from many different institutions and industries were gathered to discuss different aspect of rock powder application in agriculture (you will find pdf-files of presentations on the web-page). Opinions about the effect of rock powder are many. We have people who think it is environmentally unacceptable to use rock power as a fertilizer and that the only application is in artificial soils together with sludge, compost, peat, ash etc.

Norway has some important mineral industry plants along the coast that produce enormous amounts of rock powder (up to 2 million tons a year) that are either dumped into the sea or stored on land. Our hope is to test some of these rock wastes for their different effects. For some of these waste materials heavy metals (Ni, Cr etc) might be a problem in agricultural food production.

We are also interested in the long time aspect of application of biotite-rich rock powders (continuation of the work of Bakken, Gautneb et al) as a K-Mg-Ca fertilizer. Norway has big resources of biotite rich mica-schists connected to some of the mentioned mineral plants. Here it would be quite easy, with small technical adjustments, to produce rock powders of different compositions.

Agroecologist Marina A. Bleken would like to focus more on qualitative aspect (soil microbiology, nutrient balance etc) instead of just measuring harvest yields. We are also concerned about the fact that rock powder, according to new regulations from 2005 (partly EU-directives) no longer needs any documentation or quality certification in Norway. On the contrary liming products are still quite strictly regulated. We want to introduce a national certification and quality control on silicate rock powders. How is that regulated in the USA or other countries? Do you have any information about this? We greatly would appreciate any contribution to these aspects.

The main problem of rock powder in Norway is price. As long as it is still possible to use soluble fertilizer (K-sulphate) in organic farming, K-rock powder cannot compete in price. Even transport costs of rock powder from industrial waste (that cost almost nothing) are too high because of long distances and high tonnage needed per area. If we manage to document positive environmental effects by using rock powder, transport costs could possibly be subsidized by the Norwegian State.

We don't yet know if there will be any research project we will apply for. As long as waste deposition is free the industry is not very motivated to find other solutions. It's still a long way to go....

With best wishes

Michael Heim

Complete thread:

• March 13th, 2006 Seminar in Norway - Michael Heim, 31.03.2006, 10:53
  • March 13th, 2006 Seminar in Norway - Don Weaver, 10.04.2006, 21:13