Environmental impact of fertilizers’ use in crop production in Mexico: (In)efficient use for domestic demand or exports?
Abstract It is widely recognized that fertilizers are essential inputs for agricultural production while at the same time, their use may generate harmful impacts on the environment. This paper takes advantage of an unexplored plot‐level database for Mexico to construct a fertilizer use efficiency (F...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70116 |
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| Summary: | Abstract It is widely recognized that fertilizers are essential inputs for agricultural production while at the same time, their use may generate harmful impacts on the environment. This paper takes advantage of an unexplored plot‐level database for Mexico to construct a fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) indicator to examine how farmers use fertilizers in different cropping systems. The FUE is the ratio of the nitrogen outputs (nitrogen content of the harvest) to the fertilizers’ nitrogen inputs (nitrogen content of the fertilizers used) for each crop system. As a result of this research, we develop the first countrywide analyses of fertilizers’ application rates and their use efficiency in Mexico. Overall, we find that most of the selected crops showed excess of nitrogen loss with perennial crops, mainly fruits, having the highest losses. For some fruits, such as avocado, lemon, and apple, more than 75% of their national production resulted in excess of nitrogen loss. However, a share of all crops’ production is done with efficient fertilizers’ use (only 2%–15% for fruits and 25%–40% for cereals). Fruit and vegetable production, largely used for exports, results in high nitrogen pollution. The results of this study give insights to promote efficient fertilizer use and reduce pollution due to fertilizers. |
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| ISSN: | 2639-6696 |