As the world tries to mitigate agriculture's effect on the environment, much of the story can be found in the soils, which stores and cycles nutrient elements of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

Most phosphorus in the environment is in an organic form that plants cannot directly use, and traditional understanding suggested only enzymes could convert it into the bioavailable inorganic form.

Northwestern University researchers are actively overturning the conventional view of iron oxides as mere phosphorus “sinks.” A critical nutrient for life, most phosphorus in the soil is organic — ...