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Jeanneht Armendáriz Villegas

Phosphate deposits on the sea floor off the coast of Baja California could be a feedstock for agricultural fertilizer. But digging them up could put a fishing community, endangered sea turtles and other marine species at risk.

We need phosphate to grow food. But should we be digging it up from the sea floor?

Environment

Most of the phosphorus used for crop fertilizer currently comes from phosphate rock on land, but those supplies are dwindling. An plan in Mexico for the world’s first underwater phosphate mine dredges up questions about priorities.