BigDataFr recommends: The scientists with reasons to be cheerful
Not every problem has an obvious solution, which is why during the 1850s Britain bought 300,000 tons of bird poo a year from Peru. This was guano, the wonder fertiliser that had been discovered by Europeans at the start of that century. It was shipped back to the motherland, where it helped to feed the burgeoning and rapidly industrialising population, mainly through the medium of turnips.