The Strait That Feeds the World: How One Chokepoint Could Trigger the Next Global Food Shock

The Fragile Backbone of Modern Agriculture Here’s a reality most people never hear about: Roughly half of all food produced on Earth exists because of synthetic fertilizer. Without it, global crop yields collapse. That isn’t speculation. It’s chemistry. Modern agriculture depends on nitrogen fertilizers produced through the Haber–Bosch process, which takes nitrogen from the air and combines it with hydrogen—usually derived from natural gas—to create ammonia. That ammonia becomes the backbone of fertilizers like urea and ammonium nitrate. No ammonia. No fertilizer. No fertilizer? Crop yields drop dramatically. This isn’t some fringe concern. Agricultural economists have warned for decades that the modern food system is built on a handful of critical inputs—energy, fertilizer, and logistics. And right now, one of…