Widest Pollution Trail Leads to Farm Fields

(Caixin Online) The enormous task of feeding more than 1.3 billion mouths is one reason why China has reigned for years as the world's largest consumer and producer of fertilizer.

But when fertilizer is overused or misapplied, components such as nitrogen flow freely from farm fields straight into groundwater, rivers and lakes. Likewise, runoff from livestock farming contains nitrogen and phosphorous that can eventually reach – and seriously harm – bodies of water.