and 2018 by 18.6%. Conservative estimates report 30 to 50% of crop yields are attributed to natural or synthetic commercial fertilizers. Fertilizer consumption has surpassed the amount of farmland in the United States. Global market value is likely to rise to more than US$185 billion until 2019. The European fertilizer market will grow to earn revenues of approx. €15.3 billion in 2018. Data on the fertilizer consumption per hectare arable land in 2012 are published by The World Bank. The diagram below shows fertilizer consumption by the European Union (EU) countries as kilograms per hectare (pounds per acre). The total consumption of fertilizer in the EU is 15.9 million tons for 105 million hectare arable land area (or 107 million hectare arable land according to another estimate). This figure equates to 151 kg of fertilizers consumed per ha arable land on average by the EU countries. Environmental effects Use of fertilizers is beneficial in providing nutrients to plants although they have some negative environmental effects. The large growing consumption of fertilizers can affect soil, surface water, and groundwater due to the dispersion of mineral use. For each ton of phosphoric acid produced by the processing of phosphate rock, five tons of waste are generated. This waste takes the form of impure, useless, radioactive solid called phosphogypsum. Estimates range from 100,000,000 and 280,000,000 tons of phosphogypsum waste produced annually worldwide. Water Phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers when commonly used have major environmental effects. This is due to high rainfalls causing the fertilizers to be washed into waterways. Agricultural run-off is a major contributor to the eutrophication of fresh water bodies. For example, in the US, about half of all the lakes are eutrophic. The main contributor to eutrophication is phosphate, which is normally a limiting nutrient; high concentrations promote the growth of cyanobacteria and algae, the demise of which consumes oxygen. Cyanobacteria blooms ('algal blooms') can also produce harmful toxins that can accumulate in the food chain, and can be harmful to humans. Fertilizer run-off can be reduced by using weather-optimised fertilization strategies. The nitrogen-rich compounds found in fertilizer runoff are the primary cause of serious oxygen depletion in many parts of oceans, especially in coastal zones, lakes and rivers. The resulting lack of dissolved oxygen greatly reduces the ability of these areas to sustain oceanic fauna. The number of oceanic dead zones near inhabited coastlines is increasing. As of 2006, the