With the use of synthetic fertilizer come all of the negative effects listed in the above section. The big difference between synthetic fertilizer use and natural fertilizer use are primarily two things:

Quality of Food & Environmental Destruction

Feeding soil with organic matter instead of other synthetic fertilizers results in an increase in nutrients in produce. Mineral and vitamin levels are much higher when the soil is organically taken care of. It isn’t too difficult of a grasp to see that food grown in healthier soil will result in healthier, more nutritious food, higher quality food. This has been proven time and time again, even earlier in this page series.

Organic food is more nutritious than conventional food.

Synthetic fertilizers also contribute majorly to environmental destruction. These petroleum and sewage-sludge based fertilizers often lead to toxic runoff into groundwater and dead zones in the oceans. The nitrate and phosphorous fertilizer runoff flow into river and than ultimately in the ocean. When river water rides up over the heavier salt water, algae blooms develop on the fertilizer rich water. When the algae die, bacteria uses up all the oxygen in order to decompose them, creating an oxygen dead zone. Read more about fertilizer pollution and dead zones.

According to David Pimental of Cornell University, mono-cropping and chemical fertilizer dependency costs the US $40 billion/year due to loss of top soil.