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Food security

Maximizing Earth’s feeding capacity

Nature Food volume 4, pages 353–354 (2023)Cite this article

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Better use of nitrogen fertilizers is key to tackling the challenge of feeding a growing world population without impairing planetary sustainability. Advanced nitrogen management and dietary changes could substantially increase Earth’s feeding capacity.

Human production of chemical nitrogen fertilizers has increased from 0 to more than 100 million tons during the past century1. While succeeding in boosting agricultural production, intensive use of nitrogen fertilizer has also caused multiple environmental problems due to nitrogen losses, such as air and water pollution, harmful algal blooms, and climate change — and the planetary boundary for nitrogen has been largely surpassed2. It is predicted that the global population will reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11 billion in 2100. Will Earth’s agricultural production systems have the capacity to feed everyone while minimizing the environmental burdens?

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Fig. 1: Nitrogen management in Northeast China.

Xianlong Peng

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers U19A2050, 42061124001, 42177313 and 41961124004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Changshu National Agro-Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Longlong Xia & Xiaoyuan Yan

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  1. Longlong Xia
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  2. Xiaoyuan Yan
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Correspondence to Longlong Xia or Xiaoyuan Yan.

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Xia, L., Yan, X. Maximizing Earth’s feeding capacity. Nat Food 4, 353–354 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00736-7

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