The Fertilizer Dilemma

Fertilizer Overloading Earth's Plant Life
The creation of synthetic fertilizers was a monumental moment for crops. Farmers started seeing yields that were much larger than they had before. At first glance that seems like everything is good. More crops means more food for more people and with the ever increasing population there needs to be an increase in crop yields. The article mentions that fertilizer use has increased 800% from 1960 to 2000. Unfortunately the synthetic fertilizers are expensive and very bad for the environment. The nitrogen from the fertilizers is having an effect on climate change, creating more dead zones in oceans and is drastically changing the nitrogen cycle. The report that came out with these findings gave solutions such as better crop rotation or limiting the amount of fertilizer use. This may seem like a hassle but as prices increase for synthetic fertilizers farmers only option is to find a better way to see increase crop yields.