Nutrients are essential for crop growth. But when they’re overapplied they become a pollutant.

Fertilizers have transformed the way the world produces food. They have not only brought large benefits for food security, but they also bring environmental benefits through higher yields (and therefore less land use). But, there can be a downside. When we overapply fertilizers – no matter whether they are natural ones like manure or synthetic fertilizers – excess nutrients are washed off and pollute the natural environment.

Nitrogen and phosphorus are the two main fertilizers that farmers add to their fields. Research presented here shows that nearly two-thirds of the nitrogen we use on our crops becomes a pollutant; more than half of applied phosphorus does. There are large differences in how much pollution countries generate through their agricultural practices. Some produce almost none; others produce hundreds of kilograms per hectare of cropland.

Read full article at https://ourworldindata.org/excess-fertilizer