This shift allowed for increased crop yields but also led to long-term environmental issues and dependency on synthetic fertilizers.
Nitrate usage depleted rather than aided soil microbiology, but its usage spread across the US. Farmers fed the baby boomers and also exported corn, soy, and wheat to the countries destroyed by WWII. 

The global fertilizer market is valued at more than $230 billion annually. Comfrey is a natural super fertilizer because it grows fast, it is high in minerals, it has high biomass and it decomposes in about 48 hours. 

The global fertilizer market is valued at more than $230 billion annually. Comfrey is a natural super fertilizer because it grows fast, it is high in minerals, it has high biomass and it decomposes in about 48 hours. 

When it was discovered that nitrogen was the most important ingredient for both explosives and fertilizer, our military industrial complex and food production became dependent on vast stockpiles of synthetic chemicals. Many of the original chemical pioneers who built weapons factories found an easy shift from making bombs to making agricultural products and also pharmaceuticals. Examine the histories of Pfizer, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and DuPont and they follow a similar tract: explosives to agricultural. DuPont, Pfizer, and Monsanto all shifted into pharmaceuticals and biotech.

Chemical manufacturing began just prior to WWI, but as scientists and engineers were developing complex methods to synthesize nitrate, an old tradition was becoming far more precise: composting. Maintaining proper proportions of nitrogen and carbon would create ideal conditions for anaerobic decomposition. This process could quickly convert plant and animal waste into a growing medium that was a biological nutrient-producing powerhouse.