Global nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use for agriculture production in the past half century: shifted hot spots and nutrient imbalance

• Published in: Earth system science data 2017-03, Vol.9 (1), p.181-192
• Main Authors: Lu, Chaoqun, Tian, Hanqin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural land; Agricultural production; Agricultural productivity; Agriculture; Analysis; Climate; Climate models; Climate system; Crops; Data; Datasets; Earth surface; Fertilizer application; Fertilizers; Food; Food availability; Food security; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Hot spots; Human influences; Land use; Mineral nutrients; Nitrogen; Nitrogen fertilizers; Nutrient balance; Nutrient enrichment; Nutrients; Pangea; Phosphatic fertilizers; Phosphorus; Productivity; Surveys; Time series; Water quality; Water resources
• ISSN: 1866-3516; 1866-3508; 1866-3516
• DOI: 10.5194/essd-9-181-2017

In addition to enhancing agricultural productivity, synthetic nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) fertilizer application in croplands dramatically alters global nutrient budget, water quality, greenhouse gas balance, and their feedback to the climate system. However, due to the lack of geospatial fertilizer input data, current Earth system and land surface modeling studies have to ignore or use oversimplified data (e.g., static, spatially uniform fertilizer use) to characterize agricultural N and P input over decadal or century-long periods. In this study, we therefore develop global time series gridded data of annual synthetic N and P fertilizer use rate in agricultural lands, matched with HYDE 3.2 historical land use maps, at a resolution of 0.5°  ×  0.5° latitude–longitude during 1961–2013. Our data indicate N and P fertilizer use rates on per unit cropland area increased by approximately 8 times and 3 times, respectively, since the year 1961 when IFA (International Fertilizer Industry Association) and FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) surveys of country-level fertilizer input became available. Considering cropland expansion, the increase in total fertilizer consumption is even larger. Hotspots of agricultural N fertilizer application shifted from the US and western Europe in the 1960s to eastern Asia in the early 21st century. P fertilizer input shows a similar pattern with an additional current hotspot in Brazil. We found a global increase in fertilizer N ∕ P ratio by 0.8 g N g−1 P per decade (p