It’s true that fertilizer run-off, sewage, and other pollutants from the Corn Belt have significantly boosted dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s because up to half of the fertilizer applied isn’t absorbed by crops, and in order to grow more food we’re using 20 times more fertilizer in the Corn Belt today than

Fertilizer run-off is just one piece of the dead zone puzzle
More perennial crops and protecting wetlands would help reduce the low-to-no-oxygen zone in the Gulf of Mexico