Omnigence analyzed 63 years of FAO data to compare cereal yields and fertilizer use across the United States, Canada, Brazil and China. The findings indicate that North American grain production is considerably less fertilizer-intensive than production in Brazil and China.
The United States produces approximately four times as much grain per kilogram of applied nutrient as China and more than four times as much as Brazil. Canada and the United States also operate at roughly one-third of the fertilizer intensity of the two emerging-market producers.
Since 1980, US cereal yields have doubled while fertilizer application increased by only 14%. China, meanwhile, reduced fertilizer use by 20% from its 2014 peak while continuing to increase yields, suggesting that additional fertilizer was providing limited benefit.
For farmland investors, greater fertilizer efficiency may mean less exposure to volatile input prices. The results suggest that North American yield growth is increasingly supported by genetics, technology and improved agronomy rather than proportionate increases in fertilizer use.