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Microorganisms

The world’s population is rapidly growing, with projections estimating 10 billion people by 2050. But the amount of farmland per capita is declining, with available farmland being taken over by urban development. Not only is farmland availability decreasing, but topsoil erosion is also leading to plateaus in yield, with a steadily increasing reliance on inputs to maintain yield demands.

It’s what lies within the soil, that can help us mitigate our topsoil losses, improve yield, and increase CO2 capture. The microbiome, or the communities of microorganisms that co-exist in the soil, will save us. These workhorses of soil health, are the white blood cells of soil, and maintaining their integrity, means healthy soil and productive crops.

It’s what lies within the soil, that can help us mitigate our topsoil losses, improve yield, and increase CO2 capture. The microbiome, or the communities of microorganisms that co-exist in the soil, will save us. These workhorses of soil health, are the white blood cells of soil, and maintaining their integrity, means healthy soil and productive crops.

A recent publication by a US national task force, from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology published an article outlining the importance of plant microbiomes, and the opportunities of leveraging microbiome management as an integral part of the future of agriculture. Data is a key component to driving this change.

Current advances in technology and data processing now make it possible to collect and analyze the enormous amounts of data needed to study this level of complexity, and growing support for stewardship of the land and environment call for solutions to increase crop yields while reducing chemical and water inputs.” Carbone

“A gram of soil is estimated to contain up to 10 billion bacterial cells, and may hold as many as 10,000 bacterial species.”

Raynaud & Nunan 2014

 

To look at the future of agriculture, we have to understand the past

The above timeline shows the progression of the agricultural revolution and scientific advances to improve productivity. Ranging from the 1800s to the 1990s, the timeline shows advancements from the invention of the traction (where each farmer could produce enough for 26 people (world population 1.65 billion), to the 1960s ‘green revolution’ with one farmer producing enough food for 155 persons (world population 3 billion), to the 1990s introduction of precision agriculture, and farm productivity reaching 265 persons ( a world population of 5.3 billion).

Along with these technological advancements, came the introduction of plant breeding, herbicides, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, controlled irrigation, and increased mechanization. The increase in productivity meant reaching scale production and an introduction of monoculture practices.

By compensating for mismanagement, we have an opportunity to mimic natural processes, however doing so with precision technology and increased data collection. Understanding which microorganisms, and determining the balance of plant microbiomes will support soil regeneration and crop productivity.

Caption: Fig.1. Agricultural Timeline from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). 2020. Agriculture and the Microbiome. Issue Paper 68. CAST, Ames, Iowa

“Intensive management without good stewardship can impose costs to the environment in the form of degradation of soils, and pollution of waterways, groundwater, and surrounding wildlife habitat.”

A fine balance

Variables such as soil composition, acidity, moisture levels, and other physical or chemical properties influence the microbiome balance.

It’s a wire act, finding the balance between having a positive symbiotic microbiome and inadvertently creating the circumstances for blooms in microbial communities which can stress plant development, leading to disease and petulance. These microbial pathogens are estimated to cost US$10 billion in agricultural products per year. However, when the balance is right, microbial communities can ward off pests, strengthen a plant’s disease-fighting capabilities, improve nutrient uptake, and mitigate the effect of stressors such as drought and salinity.

 

Technology as a catalyst

Precision agriculture has given researchers the data necessary to get a glimpse into the factors that affect crop productivity and soil health. With smart sensors in the soil, drone an satellite imaging, a collation of data provides a detailed look at farmland. Integrating data into simple and easy to use dashboards, helps farmers access and make decisions that will directly impact their crop and soil performance. Along with historical data, comparisons can be made with prior seasons. All of this provides better visualization and context surrounding a crop.

However great the technology, the impact fulness is determined by public behavior. With household final consumption (the market value of all goods and services purchased by households) representing 60% of the world’s GDP, consumers have a massive (in)direct effect on the demands on the agricultural food system.

Think organic produce, and the increasing demand by consumers to label foods grown organically, or the proposals to label GMO produce. Consumers are slowly determining how and which food is grown, and where. Technology is a tool that can support consumer preferences and good land stewardship.

In order to get the most out of our soil, we must take a multifaceted approach to microorganisms.

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Agroecology Defined

In this series, we’ll try to define Agroecology and will consider the perspectives from farm system diversity, nutrient management, soil biota, pollination, and biological pest control, and policy change.

Header Image credit: Apricot Lane Farm, California

Before deep diving, we need to set the scene for the agricultural practices of today. Post-war saw the Green Revolution, where production was greatly increased due to chemical inputs developed prior to the war. Fritz Haber (predecessor to Haber Bosch) a German chemist discovered how to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen gases, which are used in fertilizers. The result of this development allowed farmers to vastly increase their yields with synthetic fertilizer inputs. Over the past 70 years, we’ve seen a drastic increase in production per hectare for various crops, largely due to more efficient farming, genetic optimization, and nutrient management. Below is a chart showing this increase in global cereal yield (in kg per ha) from 1960 to 2015. It’s exponential growth, but we’re starting to realize there is a limited capability to the soils we’ve farmed for all these years.

Agricultural intensification

Feeding the average person in the developed world requires 1500 liters of fossil fuels per year and 3,500 liters of water per day. In the world today, we’re growing sufficient food for each person to consume 2720 Kcal, which could eradicate global hunger. However, food distribution and waste are largely to blame for inadequate food security globally. In India, 21 million tonnes of wheat is wasted due to inadequate storage. Western countries are guilty of between 30-50% food waste.

Industrial agriculture has become heavily dependent on non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels, minerals, and geo-deposits of waste. At the same time, labor productivity increased enormously, making it possible to produce large food surpluses for growing urban populations. Increased agricultural efficiency has been attractive, with low labor costs and increasing yields. However, that has been overshadowed with increased inputs use to mitigate diminishing yields. So the current intensification process is largely made possible with heavy substation by society or other sectors.

Agroecology is the ecology of sustainable food systems

Defining Agroecology

Agroecology is not a new development. In the 1990s, Gliessman and Altieri defined it as “The application of ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agroecosystems”. Gliessman (2006, 2015) expanded the definition with, “The ecology of sustainable food systems”.

It’s inherently broadly defined, but we’ll consider the following principles of Agroecology by Silici (2014)

  • building soil structure, improving soil health, recycling nutrients, and ensuring local sourcing
  • conserving and using water efficiently
  • sustaining and improving functional diversity (both on a spatial and a temporal scale).

In practice, Agroecology is often more intensive for adoption than monoculture systems as it relies heavily on mimicking natural systems. It focuses on building up soil organic matter, undisturbed soil structure, permanent vegetation cover, biomass (crop residues) inputs into the soil, nutrient (re)cycling.

Image: Agroecology & Technology Fieldlab Wageningen University & Research

Our goal as agroecologists is to (re-)design agroecosystems in order to produce sustainable, sufficient, and safe food for the world, while preserving nature and cultures, adapting to climate change and delivering ecological services of local and global relevance

Examples of Agroecological Practices

Intercropping: Mixing crops in a single plot, such as intercropping and poly-cultures: biological complementarities improve nutrient and input efficiency, use of space, and pest regulation, thus enhancing crop yield stability

Crop rotation and fallowing: nutrients are conserved from one season to the next, and the life cycles of insect pests, diseases, and weeds are interrupted

Cover crops and mulching: reduce erosion, provide nutrients to the soil and enhance biological control of pests

Crop-livestock integration, including aquaculture: allows high biomass output and optimal nutrient recycling, beyond economic diversification

Conservation tillage: no or minimum tillage improves soil structure – including aeration and water infiltration and retention capacity – and organic matter

Integrated nutrient management, such as the use of compost, organic manure, and nitrogen-fixing crops: allows the reduction or elimination of the use of chemical fertilizers

Agro-forestry, especially the use of multifunctional trees: maintains and improves soil fertility through nitrogen fixation, enhances soil structure, and modifies the microclimate

Biological management of pests, diseases, and weeds, such as integrated pest management, push and pull methods, and allelopathy: decrease the long-term incidence of pests and reduce environmental and health hazards caused by the use of chemical control

Efficient water harvesting (especially in dryland areas) such as small-scale irrigation allows reducing the need for irrigation while increasing its efficiency

Manipulation of vegetation structure and plant associations: improve the efficiency of water use as well as promoting biodiversity

Use of local resources and renewable energy sources, composting and waste recycling: allows a reduction in the use of external inputs as well diminishing pressure on the natural resource base

Holistic landscape management: around field perimeters (windbreaks, shelterbelts, insect strips, and living fences), across multiple fields (mosaics of crop types and land-use practices), and at the landscape-to-regional scale (river buffers, woodlots, pastures, and natural or semi-natural areas)