> the enormous increase in agricultural output in the US has been sustained without any significant increase in these two inputs. Land use has stayed roughly flat, while labor has fallen dramatically. That suggests it’s technology that instead accounts for the big upswing in production.
It's mind blowing to me that I could find no reference to the Haber process[0] in the article at all.
The missing input here is fossil fuels.
Certainly mechanical automation has played a factor, but the number 1 contributor to increased crop yields worldwide is the use of nitrogen based fertilizer. We have completely disrupted the natural nitrogen cycle and are completely dependent on nitrogen fixation for modern day agriculture. The Haber process is an essential part of nitrogen fixation and is also completely dependent on natural gas as a feedstock for the process.
We have had amazing growth in agricultural output in the last century not because of our inventive minds but because of our ready access to hydrocarbons.
In a world increasingly at risk because of this dependence on hydrocarbons it's borderline irresponsible to use agricultural production as a proxy for "technology" and not even mention the relationship to fossil fuels.
[0].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process
It's mind blowing to me that I could find no reference to the Haber process[0] in the article at all.
The missing input here is fossil fuels.
Certainly mechanical automation has played a factor, but the number 1 contributor to increased crop yields worldwide is the use of nitrogen based fertilizer. We have completely disrupted the natural nitrogen cycle and are completely dependent on nitrogen fixation for modern day agriculture. The Haber process is an essential part of nitrogen fixation and is also completely dependent on natural gas as a feedstock for the process.
We have had amazing growth in agricultural output in the last century not because of our inventive minds but because of our ready access to hydrocarbons.
In a world increasingly at risk because of this dependence on hydrocarbons it's borderline irresponsible to use agricultural production as a proxy for "technology" and not even mention the relationship to fossil fuels.
[0].https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process