What’s the Problem with Fossil Fuel–Based Fertilizer?

的 矿物营养 that plants need most are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. 在森林和草原等生态系统中，植物获得这些营养物质是自然循环的一部分. Animals excrete nitrogen in their manure 和 urine, together with the breakdown of dead 和 decomposing plants, these nutrients are incorporated into the soil for the next growing season. 许多农民和园丁在施用粪肥和堆肥作为肥料时模仿了这种自然循环, or when they raise crops 和 livestock together. 但今天美国绝大多数的农业生产都是由合成肥料推动的，这些肥料是由污染严重的工业和污染严重的工厂生产的.

Phosphorus- 和 potassium-based fertiliz人队 are made from mined minerals, 而氮肥是用化石气体生产的，这种方法基于一个世纪以前的方法，最初生产氮气用于TNT等炸药. After World War II, nitrogen production turned to 民用目的 和 the fertilizer industry was born. Synthetic fertilizer use per acre of farml和 in the United States skyrocketed 后 1960, reaching a peak in 1981. Nitrogen fertilizer use has continued to climb according to sales data, with major commodity crops 如 corn using the largest share.

同时, 几十年的放松管制让一些最大的食品和农业公司得以巩固自己的权力. Four meat processors, for example, now control 85% of the beef market. 氮肥行业也经历了类似的整合:自上世纪80年代以来，该行业的公司数量急剧减少, 就 four companies control 75% of the market today.

This situation is not good for farm人队, who have been hurt by rising fertilizer prices that have resulted from Russia’s position as the leading fertilizer exporter 和 its war against Ukraine. Meanwhile, large fertilizer companies in the West are growing fast 和 making a killing. Take CF Industries: this little-known company based in Illinois earned 报告的3美元.2022年达到20亿美元, a 10-fold increase in just two years.

化肥行业之所以成功，是因为它让农民相信，他们的产品是提高和保持作物产量所必需的. 虽然二战后合成肥料的广泛使用大大提高了产量，这是事实, that productivity has come at a steep cost, as long-term overreliance on chemical fertiliz人队 和 other industrial farming methods have damaged soils’ natural fertility 和 structure, creating a vicious cycle in which farm人队 apply even more chemicals. Much of those chemical nutrients never even reach the plants, instead making their way into our air 和 water.

今天, scientists estimate 全世界施用的氮肥有一半从农田流失，而不是被作物吸收. Research人队 in 2014 estimated that the United States was responsible for 11% of that excess nitrogen. This is more than just wasteful 和 inefficient—it is a massive source of pollution.

2020年UCS报告 记录了从中西部玉米带农田流出的过量氮是如何污染密西西比河流域的水道和饮用水的, ultimately reaching the Gulf of Mexico, 它创造了 a “dead zone” that harms marine life 和 the region’s economically 和 culturally important fishing industries. According to our analysis, nitrogen losses from farms upstream have caused up to $2.4 billion in damage to Gulf fisheries 和 marine habitats every year since 1980.

In addition, the nitrogen 和 磷 in fertilizer runoff feeds algal blooms that threaten bodies of water 如 Lake Erie 与规律. Agricultural runoff is the leading cause of water pollution in riv人队 和 streams, the third-leading source in lakes, the second-largest source in wetl和s. What’s more, water quality impacts from fertilizer pollution are getting worse with 温暖的冬天 和 温暖的海域.

肮脏的, 以化石燃料为基础的化肥生产也给这些设施所在地以黑人和棕色人种为主的社区带来了严重的环境正义问题, 如 Louisiana’s infamous “Cancer Alley”-密西西比河在巴吞鲁日和新奥尔良之间的一段高度工业化的地区.

的 fertilizer industry is responsible for an estimated 5% of global heat-trapping emissions. Manufacturing fertilizer requires immense energy input, primarily from power plants that burn fossil fuels 和 emit carbon dioxide (CO₂); scientists have even estimated that producing the ammonia needed for fertilizer 产生更多二氧化碳₂ than any other industrial chemical reaction. Fertilizer production also releases other heat-trapping gases including 一氧化二氮 (N₂O)和 甲烷 (CH₄), which are 265 和 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, respectively.

But unlike most manufactured products, fertiliz人队 produce far more emissions in their use than in their production. 据估计, 三分之二 of the industry’s emissions are generated 后 farm人队 apply fertilizer in the field, as naturally occurring 土壤中的微生物 convert excess fertilizer into various compounds including N₂O. Mismanagement of both fertiliz人队 和 soils is responsible for 75% of 我们N₂O排放.

Some people may associate N₂O with a visit to the dentist’s office, where the euphoria-producing “笑气” has long been used as a sedative for dental 和 medical procedures. 但是N₂O is an increasingly serious climate pollutant, accounting for 6% of all human-produced heat-trapping gases in the United States in 2021, agriculture is responsible for more than three-quart人队 of the US share.

Sources of US 一氧化二氮 (N₂O)排放量，2021年

的 relationship between fertiliz人队 和 climate change is a complex web of interactions. Emissions from the production 和 application of fertilizer contribute to a warmer, 湿润的617888九五至尊娱乐, which affects how farm人队 use fertilizer—how much they apply, 多长时间, when in the growing cycle. 同时, fertilizer overuse 和 climate change combine to degrade soils, leaving fields more prone to erosion 和 damaging the living organisms in 健康的 soils, causing farm人队 to compensate with ever more fertilizer.

的 scale of our fertilizer problem is vast, but so is the potential 和 opportunity to fix it. Research人队 in 2021 mapped 20 excess nitrogen fertilizer “hot spots” 全国各地. 在一起, these hot spots—which represent just 24 percent of US agricultural l和—contribute more than 2.5 million metric tons of excess nitrogen every year, or 63 percent of the nation’s total. 迫切需要采取行动，减少这些热点地区和该国每个农业地区的化肥过度使用.

的 science of agroecology, which sees farms as ecosystems rather than factories, off人队 proven solutions. 不像工业化的农业方法，如单一栽培(年复一年在同一块地里种植相同的作物), frequent soil tilling that degrades soil health, ov人队aturating the l和 with polluting chemical fertiliz人队, agroecology emphasizes sustainable farming practices that do not harm the environment. 的se practices—which include exp和ed crop rotations, planting cover crops that protect 和 replenish the soil, reducing or eliminating soil tillage—promote 健康的 soil that naturally supports 健康的 crops 和 decreases dem和 for fertilizer. But 健康的 soil does more than just reduce fertilizer dem和; it also 防止水土流失, filt人队 和 detoxifies pollutants, holds water like a sponge.

UCS的617888九五至尊娱乐和宣传已经为联邦农业政策做出了坚实的案例，这些政策应该更多地推动农业朝着这个方向发展. 的 next farm bill—or more appropriately, the next 食物 农业法案——这是创造一个更可持续的粮食和农业系统的难得机会, 有弹性的, 健康的, 和公平. 的 食物 农业法案 can invest more heavily in the future of our 食物 system with research, technical assistance, 鼓励农民放弃大量施肥和其他有害做法.

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