The future of crop fertilizers

When watching a film, set in the distant future – on a new planet, in an interstellar colony, or on a transformed Earth – one question keeps coming to mind: where does the food come from?

The future of food in science fiction is usually portrayed through speculative visions of humanity’s evolving relationship with agriculture, technology, and nature. These films tend to reflect the spirit of their time, amplifying society’s hopes and fears. Over the past 50 years, science-fiction has shown us either utopias or dystopias – but in both cases, one fundamental fact is routinely left out: large scale food production for any civilisation is not possible without fertilizers. Whether these films imagine food systems in bleak decay or in high-tech abundance, the role of crop nutrition – especially from the chemical industry – is rarely mentioned or completely absent. And while we cannot predict exactly how the future will unfold, one thing is certain: plants will still require essential minerals. The future of food remains intrinsically linked to the application of these nutrients. It is therefore unsettling that this is not reflected in the future visions on screen, whether these films cast a positive or negative view on the future.

In dystopian futures like the science fiction films, Blade Runner (1982), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), or Interstellar (2014), agriculture is depicted in harsh, degraded environments. The atmosphere is dark, rain drenched, and the sun is hardly present. Furthermore, fertile soil is scarce, and food seems to be either synthetic or sidelined entirely. In Blade Runner 2049, vast protein farms have replaced traditional crop-based agriculture, and food is engineered rather than grown. Interstellar opens with a planet suffering from a global crop failure known as ‘The Blight’, where soil is no longer able to sustain food production. Agriculture is central to the plot, yet there is no discussion of the technologies or nutrients needed to keep crops alive. In the grim world of The Matrix (1999 - 2003), nutrition is reduced to a grey, textureless paste, stripped of joy and sensory appeal – an anonymous substance engineered to sustain, not satisfy. In Dune (1984, 2021, 2024), water-scarce societies are spread across the plant Arrakis, yet the source of nutrition for these massive populations remains a mystery. Despite food being a basic need, its production is either taken for granted or left out entirely.

Utopian visions of the future are rarer in science-fiction films, but surprisingly they fare no better. In Star Trek (1979 - 2016), food is replicated on demand, suggesting a complete dematerialisation of food systems. While impressive from a technological standpoint, such replication would still require the synthesis of essential minerals – though this is never shown. Elysium (2013) offers glimpses of cultivated crops, hinting at more traditional agriculture, but again, the mechanisms that sustain these crops are left to the imagination. The viewer is never invited to consider what feeds the plants that feed the people. Why is there a reluctance in science films to acknowledge the role of fertilizers, to support the civilisations of the future?

One reason for this omission may be rooted in the narrative priorities of science-fiction itself. Filmmakers are typically drawn to the spectacular – the dramatic tension of war, survival, space travel, or social collapse – rather than the quieter realities of agronomy and resource management. Yet, the absence of fertilizer systems is not just a creative oversight; it reflects a broader cultural blind spot about where our food truly comes from and what sustains it. By skipping over the scientific backbone of food production, these films unconsciously reinforce the myth that food simply ‘exists’ without ongoing input or effort from the chemical industry. To be fair, a few films have made the effort. In Silent Running (1972), crops are grown in preservation domes in space, and a bag of fertilizer appears – briefly – in the background of one scene. The very premise of the film revolves around protecting Earth’s last forests and agricultural ecosystems, yet the technical means of keeping them alive receives minimal attention. The Martian (2015) provides perhaps the most detailed representation, where human waste is used to cultivate potatoes on Mars. It is a rare and explicit portrayal of biofertilization and a nod to the ingenuity required for off-Earth farming. In The Creator (2023), agriculture is seamlessly integrated with Artificial Intelligence (AI): robots tend crops in orderly fields, but there is no mention or indication of what nourishes those plants. These examples are intriguing, but they remain isolated.

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