Tom Philpott, Tracking U.S. farmers’ supply of nitrogen fertilizer

Tracking U.S. farmers’ supply of nitrogen fertilizer
Tom Philpott, Grist
We burn through more of it per capita than any other country; and our appetite for it can only be sated with massive imports. No, not oil--I'm talking about nitrogen fertilizer. With only 5 percent of the world population, the U.S. consumes nearly 12 percent of the globe's annual synthetic nitrogen fertilizer production. And we're producing less and less of it at home--meaning that, as with petroleum, we're increasingly dependent on other nations for this key crop nutrient.


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