Wednesday, Mar. 30, 2022
Are there alternatives to synthetic fertilizer?
Many alternatives to synthetic fertilizer exist. The USDA lists "compost, cover crops, plant by-products, animal manure, and other biological materials" as common choices used in organic farming to avoid synthetic fertilizer.
Synthetic fertilizer increases short-term crop yields by adding limiting nutrients such as nitrogen to the soil. However, it also contributes to global warming via nitrous oxide emissions and disrupts ecosystems via runoff.
In addition to cover crops that protect the soil and organic fertilizers such as compost and manure, farmers also employ crop rotation to enrich soil, utilizing nitrogen-fixing crops such as legumes.Â
There is disagreement about whether organic farming can feed the world. A widely cited Nature study from 2017 says it is possible, but assumes more land is made available for agriculture, more people adopt a plant-based diet and less food is wasted.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- US Department of Agriculture Can I Use this Fertilizer on My Organic Farm?
- Reuters Fertilizer use is fueling climate-warming nitrous oxide emissions: study
- Scientific American Fertilizer Runoff Overwhelms Streams and Rivers—Creating Vast 'Dead Zones'
- Stanford Discovery in legumes could reduce fertilizer use, aid environment, say Stanford researchers
- Nature Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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