Phosphorus (P) is essential for enhancing soil fertility and crop and forage productivity, but sources of phosphorus rock are limited and their possible depletion threatens long-term food security. Excess phosphorus that is not absorbed by plants can also pollute both freshwater and marine water sources. Increasing Phosphorus Use Efficiency (PUE) – the ratio between the amount of fertilizer P harvested in agricultural products (outputs) and the amount of fertilizer P applied (inputs) – can reduce excess nutrients lost to the environment, serving as an important indicator for monitoring phosphorus management and more sustainable agricultural systems. Ongoing PUE data are only available for a large subset of OECD members, for which the median PUE increased by about 30% between 2000 and 2009 from around 0.6 to around 0.8. For the last decade, the median PUE has hovered slightly above or below 0.8. 

Phosphorus (P) is essential for enhancing soil fertility and crop and forage productivity, but sources of phosphorus rock are limited and their possible depletion threatens long-term food security. Excess phosphorus that is not absorbed by plants can also pollute both freshwater and marine water sources. Increasing Phosphorus Use Efficiency (PUE) – the ratio between the amount of fertilizer P harvested in agricultural products (outputs) and the amount of fertilizer P applied (inputs) – can reduce excess nutrients lost to the environment, serving as an important indicator for monitoring phosphorus management and more sustainable agricultural systems. Ongoing PUE data are only available for a large subset of OECD members, for which the median PUE increased by about 30% between 2000 and 2009 from around 0.6 to around 0.8. For the last decade, the median PUE has hovered slightly above or below 0.8.