Fertilizer use and ocean eutrophication

Agriculture

Nature Food volume 4, page 351 (2023)Cite this article

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Liu and colleagues show that the contribution of food production and fossil fuel combustion to total reactive nitrogen (Nr) emissions increased from 63% to 81% between 1970 and 2018. During this time, food production became the more dominant source of total Nr emissions, increasing its share from 35% to 53%. Two-thirds of nitrogen fertilizer overuse occurred in regions such as China, India and the United States, with rice, wheat and maize contributing 72% of the excessive nitrogen fertilizer use. Food production accounted for 94% of total oceanic reduced reactive nitrogen (NHx) deposition, and for most coastal regions, the share of food-production deposition exceeded 90%. Liu and colleagues also modelled the impacts of reducing fertilizer use, finding that a 19% reduction in oceanic NHx deposition from food production was possible if global oceanic NHx deposition was reduced by 15%.

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Annisa Chand

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Correspondence to Annisa Chand.

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Chand, A. Fertilizer use and ocean eutrophication. Nat Food 4, 351 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00763-4

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Published: 24 May 2023

Issue Date: May 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00763-4

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