How synthetic fertilizer reduced the land needed for farming

The same harvest once would have needed almost four times as much land

Nearly 4× As Much Land

With the average crop yields of 1900, producing the amount of food harvested in 2000 would have required almost four times as much land. It would have taken nearly half of Earth's ice-free land instead of less than 15%. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizer was a major reason yields rose.

Thousands died during the Trail of Tears

Estimated 13,200–16,700 Deaths

Between 1830 and 1850, the Trail of Tears forcibly removed an estimated 60,000 Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River to lands farther west. An estimated 13,200–16,700 died along the forced march.

Socrates left no writings of his own

The Athenian philosopher Socrates wrote nothing. Accounts by others, especially Plato and Xenophon, often contradict each other, making it hard to separate the historical man from the versions those writers presented.

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How synthetic fertilizer reduced the land needed for farming

The same harvest once would have needed almost four times as much land

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