Editing Fertilizer (section)

==Fertilizer consumption==
[[File:FERTILIZER USE (2018).svg|right|thumb|upright=1.5|Fertilizer use (2018). From FAO's World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2020<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1329en |title=World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2020 |publisher=FAO |year=2020 |isbn=978-92-5-133394-5 |location=Rome |doi=10.4060/cb1329en |s2cid=242794287}}</ref>]]
[[File:Fertilizer consumption in Europe.png|right|thumb|upright=1.5|The diagram displays the statistics of [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HzGlIAHphywl3AO2-S_aXDAS0VLL4IU6V19fVptSnjs/pubchart?oid=1097435817&format=interactive fertilizer consumption] in western and central European counties from data published by The World Bank for 2012.]]
{{anchor|nitrogen_fertilizer_anchor}}
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="float:right; margin:10px; text-align:right;"
|+ Top users of nitrogen-based fertilizer<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20170812023423/ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/A0701E03.pdf ''     Livestock's      Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options'', Table 3.3]. Retrieved 29 June 2009. United Nations [[Food and Agriculture Organization]].</ref>
|- style="vertical-align:bottom"
! Country
! Total<br />N use<br />(Mt pa)
! N use for<br />feed and<br />pasture<br />(Mt pa)
|-
| China
| 18.7
| 3.0
|-
| India
| 11.9
| n/a<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://fert.nic.in/page/production-inputs | title=Production & Inputs &#124; Government of India, Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers}}</ref>
|-
| U.S.
| 9.1
| 4.7
|-
| France
| 2.5
| 1.3
|-
| Germany
| 2.0
| 1.2
|-
| [[Brazil]]
| 1.7
| 0.7
|-
| Canada
| 1.6
| 0.9
|-
| [[Turkey]]
| 1.5
| 0.3
|-
| UK
| 1.3
| 0.9
|-
| [[Mexico]]
| 1.3
| 0.3
|-
| Spain
| 1.2
| 0.5
|-
| [[Argentina]]
| 0.4
| 0.1
|}
China has become the largest producer and consumer of nitrogen fertilizers<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smil |first=Vaclav |title=Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-119-94253-5 |location=United Kingdom}}</ref> while Africa has little reliance on nitrogen fertilizers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smil |first=Vaclav |title=Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken From Nature. |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-262-01856-2}}</ref> Agricultural and chemical minerals are very important in industrial use of fertilizers, which is valued at approximately $200 billion.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Kesler and Simon |first=Stephen and Simon |title=Mineral Resources, Economics and the Environment. |publisher=Cambridge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-107-07491-0}}</ref> Nitrogen has a significant impact in the global mineral use, followed by potash and phosphate. The production of nitrogen has drastically increased since the 1960s. Phosphate and potash have increased in price since the 1960s, which is larger than the consumer price index.<ref name=":03" /> Potash is produced in Canada, Russia and Belarus, together making up over half of the world production.<ref name=":03" /> Potash production in Canada rose in 2017 and 2018 by 18.6%.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Industry Stats – Fertilizer Canada |language=en-US |work=Fertilizer Canada |url=https://fertilizercanada.ca/about-fertilizer-canada/resources/industry-resources/industry-stats/ |url-status=dead |access-date=2018-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404202635/https://fertilizercanada.ca/about-fertilizer-canada/resources/industry-resources/industry-stats/ |archive-date=4 April 2018}}</ref> Conservative estimates report 30 to 50% of crop yields are attributed to natural or synthetic commercial fertilizers.<ref name="FertEncyl" /><ref name="Stewart et a., 2005">{{Cite journal |last1=Stewart |first1=W.M. |last2=Dibb |first2=D.W. |last3=Johnston |first3=A.E. |last4=Smyth |first4=T.J. |year=2005 |title=The Contribution of Commercial Fertilizer Nutrients to Food Production |journal=Agronomy Journal |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.2134/agronj2005.0001|bibcode=2005AgrJ...97....1S }}</ref> Fertilizer consumption has surpassed the amount of farmland in the United States.<ref name=":03" />

Data on the fertilizer consumption per hectare [[arable land]] in 2012 are published by [[The World Bank]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fertilizer consumption (Kilograms per hectare of arable land) &#124; Data |url=http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.CON.FERT.ZS/countries?order=wbapi_data_value_2007%20wbapi_data_value&sort=desc&display=default}}</ref> The diagram below shows fertilizer consumption by the European Union (EU) countries as kilograms per hectare (pounds per acre). The total consumption of fertilizer in the EU is 15.9 million tons for 105 million hectare arable land area<ref name="arableland">{{cite web |title=Eurostat - Data Explorer |url=http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006122431/http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do |archive-date=6 October 2014 |access-date=2011-10-19}}</ref> (or 107 million hectare arable land according to another estimate<ref>[[Arable land]]</ref>). This figure equates to 151&nbsp;kg of fertilizers consumed per ha arable land on average by the EU countries.