War-induced fertilizer shortage may be reducing US soil and water pollution

For decades, American farmers applied more fertilizer than their crops needed, building up excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil. Those nutrients have driven serious water pollution—agricultural runoff contaminating waterways, and dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, a global fertilizer shortage tied to geopolitical disruption may be creating an unintended benefit. According to water sustainability researcher Nandita Basu at the University of Waterloo, farmers facing tight supplies and high prices are forced to rely on those accumulated soil reserves instead of adding more. It's a temporary shift, but one that could meaningfully improve water quality.

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