The vast majority of land in third world countries requires a huge input in fertilizer and insecticide. Only seven percent of Chinese land is even arable. The United States has been the world’s largest supplier of grains since the end of WWII. When a substantial amount of that got turned very expensively into alcohol that caused a worldwide spike in grain prices leading directly to the Arab Spring. American policy affects the entire world. As a Mexican once told me, “When America gets the sniffles, Mexico gets the flu.” I think that’s true worldwide.
I remember about 60 years ago, farmers used very little fertilizer except for the use of manure. Back then they also rotated crops in a way it would replenish the earth with nutrients. Now days they plant the same no till crops year after year in the same fields but depend on commercial fertilizers.