New research: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health

Tom Philpott, Grist

For all of its ecological baggage, synthetic nitrogen does one good deed for the environment: it helps build carbon in soil. At least, that’s what scientists have assumed for decades. If that were true, it would count as a major environmental benefit of synthetic N use...Well, that logic has come under fierce challenge from a team of University of Illinois researchers led by professors Richard Mulvaney, Saeed Khan, and Tim Ellsworth.

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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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EB: The dark side of nitrogen
Stephanie Ogburn, Grist
Modern agriculture — and, consequently, present-day human society — depends on the widespread availability of cheap nitrogen fertilizer, the ingredient that makes our high-yielding food system possible. But the industrialization of this synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has come with costs.

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