Fertilizers carry a hidden cost for soil’s crucial microbes – using less as prices rise might pay off for farms in unexpected ways

Too much fertilizer disrupts the hidden world of soil-dwelling microbes that were sustaining healthy crops long before synthetic fertilizer was invented.

By: Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: July 8, 2026

Words: 1,014

Last Updated: 2 weeks ago

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By Esther Ndumi Ngumbi, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Across North America, in places such as Illinois, Iowa and Texas, farmers are busy growing the crops the world depends on for food, fuel and fiber.

But as their tractors roll across fields, a pressing concern weighs heavily on many farmers: the rising cost of synthetic fertilizers, widely considered essential for crop production.

After an expensive spring, with the war in …

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