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Nitrogen fertilisers are blamed for causing disease and polluting the
environment. To find out how true this is we need to know more about what
happens to them in soil

NITROGEN fertilisers have revolutionised agriculture in most of the world.
They have helped us to gain more food from less land. But some people blame
them for causing disease and polluting our rivers and seas. Finding out
whether fertilisers really are to blame proves trickier than might at first
appear. Farmers may add nitrogen fertiliser to the land but soil has a secret
life, and can produce much more nitrogen.…

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