THE CONVERSATION: Fertilizers carry a hidden cost for soil’s crucial microbes – using less as prices rise might pay off for farms in unexpected ways

By Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Across North America, in places such as Illinois, Iowa and Texas, farmers are busy growing the crops the world depends on for food, fuel and fiber. But as their tractors roll across fields, a pressing concern weighs heavily on many farmers: the rising cost of synthetic fertilizers, widely considered essential for crop production. After an expensive spring, with the war in Iran restricting fertilizer and petroleum shipments and raising prices, farmers may […]