Why it matters, product
Synthetic fertilizer
Nitrogen, phosphate and potash nutrients applied to cropland; the largest input to modern yields.
- Depends on
- 4
- Depended on by
- 1
- Metrics
- 0
Neighbourhood: what depends on it (left), what it depends on (right)
- Candidate
- Hypothesized
- Mechanism supported
- Causally supported
- Established relation
Systems that would feel a shortage
Downstream: what depends on it
Crop production requires input Synthetic fertilizer3 evidenceMechanism supported
Crop production depends on Synthetic fertilizer.
Mechanism
Yields depend on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium supply, and synthetic fertilizer provides most of it on intensively farmed land. Manure, legume rotation and residue return substitute in part, and the response varies by soil and crop, so this is an agronomic mechanism rather than a fixed coefficient.
Evidence
- documentFAO, Land and Waterfao.orgSoil nutrients, irrigation and freshwater use in agriculture.checked 2026-09-07
- documentUSGS, Nitrogen (fixed), ammonia statistics and informationusgs.govAmmonia production from natural gas; fertilizer as the dominant end use; import reliance.checked 2026-09-07
- metriccereal-yield
- Status
- mechanism_supported
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.90
- Stated strength
- 0.70
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Inputs it cannot do without
Upstream: what it depends on
Synthetic fertilizer requires input Ammonia2 evidenceEstablished relation
Synthetic fertilizer depends on Ammonia.
Mechanism
Nitrogen fertilizers (urea, ammonium nitrate, UAN) are made from ammonia.
Evidence
- documentIEA, Ammonia Technology Roadmapiea.orgAmmonia production routes: natural gas reforming, coal gasification, electrolysis; fertilizer end use.checked 2026-09-07
- documentUSGS, Nitrogen (fixed), ammonia statistics and informationusgs.govAmmonia production from natural gas; fertilizer as the dominant end use; import reliance.checked 2026-09-07
- Status
- established_identity_or_engineering_relation
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.98
- Stated strength
- 0.90
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Synthetic fertilizer requires input Freight transport2 evidenceEstablished relation
Synthetic fertilizer depends on Freight transport.
Mechanism
Fertilizer is bulky and largely imported into consuming regions; rail, barge and ocean freight deliver it inside the planting window.
Evidence
- documentUSGS, Nitrogen (fixed), ammonia statistics and informationusgs.govAmmonia production from natural gas; fertilizer as the dominant end use; import reliance.checked 2026-09-07
- documentUSGS, Potash statistics and informationusgs.govchecked 2026-09-07
- Status
- established_identity_or_engineering_relation
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.90
- Stated strength
- 0.70
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Synthetic fertilizer requires input Phosphate rock2 evidenceEstablished relation
Synthetic fertilizer depends on Phosphate rock.
Mechanism
Phosphate fertilizers are made from mined phosphate rock; there is no synthetic route to phosphorus.
Evidence
- documentUSGS, Phosphate rock statistics and informationusgs.govchecked 2026-09-07
- sourceUSGS National Minerals Information CenterSeeded source; commodity summaries are the cited documents.checked 2026-09-07
- Status
- established_identity_or_engineering_relation
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.97
- Stated strength
- 0.80
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Synthetic fertilizer requires input Potash2 evidenceEstablished relation
Synthetic fertilizer depends on Potash.
Mechanism
Potassium fertilizer is mined potash; production is concentrated in a few countries.
Evidence
- documentUSGS, Potash statistics and informationusgs.govchecked 2026-09-07
- sourceUSGS National Minerals Information CenterSeeded source; commodity summaries are the cited documents.checked 2026-09-07
- Status
- established_identity_or_engineering_relation
- Reviewer confidence
- 0.97
- Stated strength
- 0.80
- Lag
- not stated
- Version
- curated_seed_v1
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-07
Confidence and strength are curated judgements recorded with the edge, not measured quantities.
Measured, from the catalog
Linked metrics
No catalog metric is linked to this entity yet.
Named on the edges that depend on it
Substitutes
No substitute is named for this entity on any stored edge.
Derived from curated edges
Bottleneck centrality
- Score
- 1.40
- Downstream entities
- 2
- Direct dependents
- 1
Sum over every entity downstream (within six hops) of the strongest path weight to it, where each edge weighs its stated strength divided by one plus its named substitutes. A graph statistic over curated edges, not an observation. Computed 2026-09-07 22:42 UTC.
Curated paths this entity is part of
Chains
Names that resolve to this node
Aliases
- NPK
- fertiliser
- fertilizers
- mineral fertilizer
slug fertilizer, updated 2026-09-07 22:42 UTC