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FROM SUN FERTILIZER TO FOSSIL FUELS. "When humankind acquired the power to fix nitrogen, the basis of soil fertility shifted from a total reliance on the energy of the sun to a new reliance on fossil fuel."" " http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/whats-eating-america-121229356/ View in LinkedIn

FERTILIZERS AND PESTICIDES GREW OUT OF MUNITIONS. "The chemical fertilizer industry (along with that of pesticides, which are based on the poison gases developed for war) is the product of the government's effort to convert its war machine to peacetime purposes."" " http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/whats-eating-america-121229356/ View in LinkedIn

FERTILIZERS AND PESTICIDES GREW OUT OF MUNITIONS. "The chemical fertilizer industry (along with that of pesticides, which are based on the poison gases developed for war) is the product of the government's effort to convert its war machine to peacetime purposes."" " http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/whats-eating-america-121229356/ View in LinkedIn

€80 BN EC RESEARCH INITIATIVE. "The new European Union research budget has had its official UK launch. Known as Horizon 2020, the program is worth nearly £67bn (80bn euros) and covers the next seven years."" " http://lnkd.in/d9pWWUt View in LinkedIn

MUNITIONS GAVE RISE TO FERTILIZERS. "During the 1940s, fertilizer exploded in more ways than one. During the war, nitrogen was one of the prime components of TNT and other high explosives, and the U.S. government built 10 new plants to supply nitrogen for bombs. After the war, those plants produced ammonia for fertilizer. Fertilizer use exploded."" " http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/crops_04.html View in LinkedIn

FERTILIZERS AND FOOD SYSTEMS changed profoundly after World War II. Swords were turned into ploughs as munitions became fertilizers, and their use soared. At the same time, improved transport infrastructures changed the meaning of 'local food', and giant national enterprises concentrated both the production and the distribution of US food. View in LinkedIn

GIANT FERTILIZER MARKETS. "Conservative estimates report 30 to 50% of crop yields are attributed to natural or synthetic commercial fertilizer. Global market value is likely to rise to more than US$185 billion until 2019. The European fertilizer market will grow to earn revenues of approx. €15.3 billion in 2018." " " http://lnkd.in/dBSfWPS View in LinkedIn

WAR AND FOOD, and "the dubious links between modern warfare and industrial agriculture... Haber threw himself into the German war effort, and his chemistry kept alive Germany's hopes for victory, by allowing it to make bombs from synthetic nitrate. Later, Haber put his genius for chemistry to work developing poison gases—ammonia, then chlorine. (He subsequently developed Zyklon B, the gas used in Hitler's concentration camps.)" He won the 1918 Nobel prize for chemistry for his work on making ammonia." " http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/whats-eating-america-121229356/ View in LinkedIn

WAR AND FOOD, and "the dubious links between modern warfare and industrial agriculture... Haber threw himself into the German war effort, and his chemistry kept alive Germany's hopes for victory, by allowing it to make bombs from synthetic nitrate. Later, Haber put his genius for chemistry to work developing poison gases—ammonia, then chlorine. (He subsequently developed Zyklon B, the gas used in Hitler's concentration camps.)" He won the 1918 Nobel prize for chemistry for his work on making ammonia." " http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/whats-eating-america-121229356/ View in LinkedIn

THE HABER PROCESS TO MAKE NITROGEN. In 'Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch and the Transformation of World Food Production', Vaclav Smil "estimates that two of every five humans on earth today would not be alive if not for Fritz Haber's invention." Nitrogen fertilizers have had an enormous impact on the planted and on food production in a relatively short period. But contrary to some, it is neither all bad nor all good. " "" " http://lnkd.in/dixvzbv http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/whats-eating-america-121229356/ View in LinkedIn