Too Much of a Good Thing

Anyone trying to grow plants (from large commercial farmers to backyard putterers) knows that fertilizer can do wonders.  For most of human agricultural history fertilizer was expensive,difficult to come by and just as difficult to deliver to plants.  That changed dramatically in the later half of the twentieth century when these roadblocks were lifted  in large parts of the world.....although note that for many of the world's poorest farmers fertilizer is as rare and precious a resource as it has always been.  The fertilizer revolution has created a number of impressive benefits as well as a host of profound problems.  This article in this months National Geographic provides a nice summary of both of these.  If you can, get a hold of the actual printed article that comes with all the nice pictures.