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Knowledge4Policy
Knowledge for policy
Supporting policy with scientific evidence

We mobilise people and resources to create, curate, make sense of and use knowledge to inform policymaking across Europe.

  • Publication | 2026
Why the Iran war should change how we think about fertilizer
Global Food and Nutrition Security

Highlights:

  • The war in Iran has exposed a major vulnerability in global food production: half the world's crops depend on nitrogen fertilizer from natural gas and a third of fertilizer trade passes through a single chokepoint.
  • Restoring fertilizer supply is not enough – the world must reduce how much it requires in the first place.
  • Biochar can reduce synthetic fertilizer requirements by 20-40% but we need far more field trials to understand where it works and how to scale it.