What the fugg did civilization do before the availability of chemical fertilizer before?
98% of the population was active in growing or harvesting their food down to the age of six years old.
With the population of the world today, pesticides, fertilizer, big tractors, massive irrigation projects, and cheap fuel is all that is preventing mass famine and pestilence.
Which would, of course, bring about WW III.
From 1860 through the 1930s, American corn production averaged 30 bushels per acre. Reports from 2017 place average yield for the decade at 180 bushels per acre.
Most other crops show similar production increases.
So let's return to 1930s tech, and let 5 out of six persons on the planet starve to death.
