Fertile grounds: Navigating the environmental impact of fertilizer consumption

Jayash Paudel

European Review of Agricultural Economics, 2025, vol. 52, issue 4, 617-643

Abstract: This article takes advantage of the economic geography of fertilizer production to show that a 10 per cent increase in the use of fertilizers is associated with a 3.09 per cent increase in agricultural nitrous oxide emissions over a 15-year long period from 2006 to 2020, and a 15.28 per cent increase in water withdrawals for agricultural purposes. Findings further indicate that the effects of fertilizer consumption on crop water footprints and agricultural methane emissions are not statistically distinguishable from zero. A back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that these fertilizer-induced environmental externalities lead to approximately 15,450 annual deaths worldwide through nitrous oxide emissions.

Keywords: agriculture; fertilizers; yields; nitrous oxide; water footprints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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