The United States (315 million people) has one of the highest crop yields per ac

Question

The United States (315 million people) has one of the highest crop yields per acre of any country in the world. But it comes at a cost. Every year, farmers in the United States use over 22.9 million tons of commerical fertilizer (phosphorous and nitrogen) on their fields. The fertilizer cost is approx. 20 billion dollars a year. Using these numbers, calculate how much it would cost if the rest of the world (7 billion people) used fertilizers at the same rate per person as in the United States. How much fertilizer would be used? What might be the impact on the environment? What alternative methods could increase crop yields worldwide?

Explanation / Answer

The united states (315 million people) uses 22.9 million tons of fertiliser

So, the amount of fertiliser used by the rest of the world (7 billion people) is,

= 7 billion x 22.9 million / 315 million

= 0.50889 billion tons of fertiliser

= 508.89 million tons

22.9 million tons of fertiliser costs 20 billion dollars.

So, 508.99 million tons would cost,

= (508.89 × 20)/22.9

= 444.445 billion dollars

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