This project explores how the story of the progress in capitalist agriculture is a story of robbing the soil by increasing its dependence on nitrogen-based fertilisers that ruin the fertility of the soil in the long run. The paper shows that the capitalist production, as witnessed through the Agribusiness models in the global South, is a direct threat to sustainable agriculture. Primitive accumulation of the Agribusiness model pushes the production/food habits in the global South towards an unexplored territory, involving huge agricultural value systems, uniting the foreign and domestic capital at the cost of subsistence farming.

Key findings/ arguments

Long-term variation of the amount of N internationally traded throughout the world. 

The intensification of agriculture, which has driven a 150% increase in cereal production between 1961 and 1998, can be understood as a manifestation of capital's relentless pursuit of surplus value. This increase in production, while beneficial in feeding a growing global population, has been accompanied by severe environmental consequences. The extensive use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, produced via the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process, has sustained agricultural growth but also introduced substantial reactive nitrogen (Nr) into the environment. This nitrogen contributes to air and water pollution, exacerbating environmental degradation on a global scale (Galloway et al., 2003, 2008).

Contribution of the most traded commodities to the global net N exchanges

The global agricultural sector has undergone significant transformation in recent decades, characterized by a decline in agricultural employment and a dramatic increase in production. Between 1961 and 2004, the number of people employed in agriculture decreased by 25%, while cereal production increased by 150% from 1961 to 1998. This shift, driven by agricultural intensification and the expansion of farmland, has resulted in a significant rise in total agricultural production but has also introduced a range of environmental challenges, including adverse impacts on freshwater and terrestrial resources, climate, and air quality.

Persistent increase in global fertiliser usage as a consequence of the intensification of agriculture




Net import or export of N embedded in traded commodities for each country for the years 1961, 1986 and 2010. Green countries = exportation is higher than the importation, i.e. net exporting N; yellow–red countries = countries that are net importing N; grey countries = imports and exports are balanced.



This spatial separation of agricultural activities is a manifestation of the capitalist logic of accumulation, where efficiency and profit maximization take precedence over ecological and social considerations. The disconnection between crop production and livestock farming results in the concentration of environmental burdens in specific regions, often those in the Global South, while the benefits of consumption are enjoyed elsewhere. This reflects the unequal exchange inherent in global capitalism, where the environmental and social costs of production are borne by the periphery, while the core reaps the rewards (Wallerstein, 1974).


N fluxes from each region to the others for the years 1986 and 2009. Arrows show the fluxes between the regions (only fluxes higher than 90 GgN are represented)


Regions that specialize in the production of nitrogen-intensive crops and livestock, often in the global South, suffer the ecological consequences of nitrogen pollution, while the regions that consume these products, typically in the global North, remain insulated from these effects. This dynamic mirrors the broader patterns of exploitation and environmental injustice that characterize global capitalism, where the periphery is subjected to the detrimental impacts of production, while the core enjoys the benefits.


Production, Consumption and import of fertilisers (nitrogen) of India (1980-2018)

Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research. 



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The published work would appear here.