By:  Lorenz B. Mapote | Kataegis  Before the sun could even illuminate the field, our farmers  are already at work-- tending to crops that, more than ever, depend on something they cannot readily get: nitrogen.  Modern agriculture runs on nitrogen fertilizers. Yet the vast majority of it does not come from organic sources, but from factories that synthesize  nitrogen compounds like urea - products whose prices have sharply risen with trends in global energy markets and the current crisis in the Middle East. In countries like the Philippines, which  imports around 90% of its fertilizer supplies, the cost and stability of these supplies are more than of economic concerns - it is a vulnerability in the system itself. But a humble revolution is taking place in laboratories around the world. Scientists are now attempting to engineer crops that can partner with microbes to utilize nitrogen directly from the air we breathe - effectively fertilizing themselves redu...