Did you know that Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars?  

We consume about 400 gallons of oil a year, per citizen—about 17 percent of our national energy use—for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use.  Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers and other equipment all use petroleum. Even bigger gas guzzlers on the farm are not the machines, but the so-called inputs. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers.

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

Sources:

David Pimentel, Marcia Pimentel, and Marianne Karpenstein-Machan. Cornell University.

Richard Manning. Harper’s Magazine. February, 2004.