The Russia-Ukraine war pushes up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer.
A study ties an estimated 4,300 premature deaths a year to the air pollution caused by corn production in the U.S. In some regions, the per-bushel health costs exceed the corn's market price.
In one year, fertilizer production in the U.S. emitted as much carbon dioxide as two million cars. What if we could help plants make their own nitrogen so they wouldn't need man-made chemicals?
Turning food waste into fertilizer is popular in parts of Europe and is catching on in the U.S. But tiny plastics are also making their way into that fertilizer — and into the food chain.
Walmart has promised big cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases. To meet that goal, though, the giant retailer may have to persuade farmers to use less fertilizer. It won't be easy.
A record-setting "dead zone," where water doesn't have enough oxygen for fish to survive, has appeared this summer. One major cause is pollution from farms.
Even the combined deaths from HIV/AIDS and malaria isn't quite as devastating. The culprits are the usual suspects, like cars and industry, but also cookstoves and ... manure?
Des Moines, Iowa, wants to control nitrate pollution — often called fertilizer runoff — in nearby rivers. But the best way to reduce it involves planting different crops, not using less fertilizer.
Fertilizer runoff has provoked a confrontation between Des Moines and the farms that surround it. The city's water utility wants to sue neighboring counties for nitrates in the Raccoon River.
