It has been a busy couple of weeks for me attending both the in Beijing followed by the in Seville. Personally I found the former more stimulating, perhaps because it was more out of my comfort zone – closer to the plant than the water – with some interesting papers talking about the molecular advances in plants and how these can help potentially increase the efficiency of P use in a world with decreasing P reserves. Moreover, apart from the obvious guilt I feel for my carbon footprint, it seems such a shame that we had two P conferences on different sides of the world within a few days of one another.
The more I think about these isues the more important it is that we seek a unified and integrated view on these issues, rather than fragmenting into the ‘soil-plant’ and the ‘soil-water’ world. Perhaps we need a conference entitled simply ‘Phosphorus’ next?
Phil.
