A bolt of lightning fixes nitrogen that feeds crops

Every lightning bolt is hot enough (around 30,000 K) to break the triple bond holding nitrogen molecules together in the atmosphere, converting them into nitrates that rain carries into the soil. About 100 million kg of nitrogen is fixed this way globally each year — fertilising plants without any human effort. Before the Haber-Bosch process (1909), lightning and soil bacteria were the primary source of the nitrogen that makes all life possible.

Source: Fowler, D. et al., 'The global nitrogen cycle in the twenty-first century', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2013)