For the first time ever, farmers the world over — all at the same time — are testing the limits of how little chemical fertilizer they can apply without devastating their yields come harvest time. Early predictions are bleak.
In Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean producer, a 20 percent cut in potash use could bring a 14 percent drop in yields, industry consultancy MB Agro said. In Costa Rica, a coffee cooperative representing 1,200 small producers sees output falling as much as 15 percent next year if farmers miss even one-third of normal application. In West Africa, falling fertilizer use would