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Fertilizer access is a cheat code to lift the world’s poorest people out of poverty | by Cassia Attard | Medium

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Fertilizer has become a rather awkward and personal topic of conversation in my 22-year-old university student life. Not because it’s touchy or controversial, but because it’s begun to occupy an unusually large amount of my time and brain space. When the honest answer to “What did you do this weekend?” is “I looked at FAO fertilizer trade data”, you start to feel like a bit of a weirdo¹. Yet, I think my obsession is justified. My recent visit to NYC for the U.N. General Assembly and Climate Week taught me that it’s not a particularly niche fascination. In fact, fertilizer production, use, and trade are capturing the attention of many heavy hitters in the sustainability space, from diplomats to tech founders. I care about fertilizer because I care about: Allow me to explain… Growing crops requires only a handful of inputs: water, sunlight, and nutrients. The three essential nutrients— nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium — are present in the soil, but often in small qualities, holding ba

Sustainability Food Security Development Agriculture Climate Change Fertilizer access is a cheat code to lift the world’s poorest people out of poverty Cassia Attard 14 min read · Oct 3, 2023 -- Listen Share Fertilizer has become a rather awkward and personal topic of conversation in my 22-year-old university student life. Not because it’s touchy or controversial, but because it’s begun to occupy an unusually large amount of my time and brain space. When the honest answer to “What did you do this weekend?” is “I looked at FAO fertilizer trade data”, you start to feel like a bit of a weirdo¹. Y

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