[diesel_john]

Update Feb. 2008: IHMO, Nitrogen, phosphate, and potash fertilizers just got too expensive for farmers in the U.S. to buy large enough amounts of these products to sustain current yields. Look for yields to level off as seed technological advances are cancelled by less fertilizer usage. Fertility levels in the soil will decline slowly as the nutrients that are being used are not completely replaced. Eventually price rationing will drive commodity prices high enough to afford the the higher inputs costs, this process could be a rocky ride for several years with energy being the big unknown. As the third world countries raise their standard of living, we are competing for a finite number of natural resources.