Fertilizer
Over the past 50–60 years, unbridled growth in global fertilizer use to boost and maintain crop yields has polluted natural and agricultural systems, leading to a range of harmful outcomes. The abundant and inefficient application of fertilizer is...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/759191521207948130/Fertilizer http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29503 |
| Summary: | Over the past 50–60 years, unbridled
growth in global fertilizer use to boost and maintain crop
yields has polluted natural and agricultural systems,
leading to a range of harmful outcomes. The abundant and
inefficient application of fertilizer is a leading cause of
water pollution, as well as a contributor to greenhouse
gases and the deterioration of air and soil quality. This,
in turn, has adverse consequences for public health, the
climate, wildlife, and business—including tourism,
agribusiness, commercial fishing, and farming. Although its
use, in combination with other Green Revolution
technologies, is credited for feeding the world and averting
a more dramatic expansion of agriculture into natural
landscapes, today’s fertilizer use is considered to be
pushing the planet’s biogeochemical boundaries. |
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