Fertile grounds: Navigating the environmental impact of fertilizer consumption
Open accessAbstract
This article takes advantage of the economic geography of fertilizer production to show that a 10 per cent increase in the use of fertilizers is associated with a 3.09 per cent increase in agricultural nitrous oxide emissions over a 15-year long period from 2006 to 2020, and a 15.28 per cent increase in water withdrawals for agricultural purposes. Findings further indicate that the effects of fertilizer consumption on crop water footprints and agricultural methane emissions are not statistically distinguishable from zero. A back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that these fertilizer-induced environmental externalities lead to approximately 15,450 annual deaths worldwide through nitrous oxide emissions.
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Cites
Quasi-Experimental Shift-Share Research Designs
Borusyak, K., Hull, P., & Jaravel, X. (2022) · The Review of Economic Studies · doi:10.1093/restud/rdab030 · Cited by 1,427 · see citing works
Lu, C., & Tian, H. (2017) · Earth System Science Data · doi:10.5194/essd-9-181-2017 · Cited by 821 · see citing works
Walling, E., & Vaneeckhaute, C. (2020) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111211 · Cited by 408 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Paudel, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oklahoma (US)
- Corresponding author
- Paudel, Jayash
- ORCID
- Paudel, Jayash
- Venue
- European Review of Agricultural Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2025-09
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 617-643
- ISSN
- 0165-1587 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3618
- OpenAlex
- W4415533916
- Cited by
- 2
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2
- FWCI
- 0.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Review of Agricultural Economics (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Environmental Impact and Sustainability
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Keywords
- fertilizer use, nitrous oxide emissions, agricultural water use, water abstraction, crop water footprint, agricultural methane emissions, environmental externalities, fertilizer production, economic geography, environmental health impacts, greenhouse gas emissions
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