THE LATEST TRENDS IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

The global population is set to increase to over 10 billion by 2050 and, with economic development, the average wealth of individuals in developing nations is set to rise—this brings with it a set of challenges for agriculture and the food supply chain.

To date, the increase in the supply of food to meet global demand has been one of the great success stories of applied research.

However, this success has come at the expense of nature; biodiversity is declining at an accelerating pace, rivers, lakes and aquifers are polluted, soils are polluted or being eroded, forests are being converted to grow crops to supply food and energy and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture nearly equal those from transport.

Things cannot continue as they are; future food security will need to focus on the sustainable supply of food, incorporating innovation in technology, supply chains and social science/economics [1].

This forced the scientific and farming community to look for efficient and ecologically safe farming systems which led to the evolution of the concept of ‘sustainable agriculture’.

Sustainable agriculture is a holistic concept of agriculture which helps in meeting the needs of the present generation without affecting the future generation.

It helps in maintaining optimum crop production along with maintaining soil health, conservation of natural resources and preserving ecological balance and biodiversity in agroecosystems [2].

United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have clearly mentoion that applications, importants, and impact of sustainable agriculture [3].

Recently, B. Basso & J. Antle are demonstrate that the global food system must become more sustainable. Digital agriculture — digital and geospatial technologies to monitor, assess and manage soil, climatic and genetic resources — illustrates how to meet this challenge so as to balance the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable food production [4].

New technologies are needed to improve the sustainability, resilience and efficiency of agricultural systems [5]. In the field of agriculture, markets that are linked to the development of nano-sized materials are rapidly growing and versatile, and have untapped potential (Figure 1) [6].

Figure 1 Potential application of nanotechnology in plant agriculture [7].

In Figure 1, nanopesticides potentially have higher efficacy and may help to prevent runoff to surface water and groundwater. Nanotechnology-based genetic engineering may offer tremendous advantages. Plants could be used as sensors to report their nutritional or health status. Nanotechnology might be used to modify the soil microbiome or in soil conditioning, and nanocarrier-bound fertilizers may exhibit higher delivery efficiencies than conventional products. Nano-enabled seed coatings may improve seed quality.

Recently, T. Hofmann et al., [7] reported that nanotechnology offers potential solutions for sustainable agriculture, including increasing nutrient utilization efficiency, improving the efficacy of pest management, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and reducing adverse environmental impacts of agricultural food production.

Many promising nanotechnologies have been proposed and evaluated at different scales, but several barriers to implementation must be addressed for technology to be adopted, including efficient delivery at field scale, regulatory and safety concerns, and consumer acceptance.

On their studies explore these barriers, and rank technology readiness and potential impacts of a wide range of agricultural applications of nanotechnology. They propose pathways to overcome these barriers and develop effective, safe and acceptable nanotechnologies for agriculture [7].

Nano-enabled plant agriculture holds promise as part of the solution to improve food security and crop yields while mitigating the environmental and climate impacts of food production.

References

[1]. https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/sections/agriculture_food_and_wildlife

[2]. R. Sharma, T. Aravind, R. Sharma, J. Appl. Natural Sci., 11(3), 666-672 (2019).

[3]. https://nifa.usda.gov/topic/sustainable-agriculture.

[4]. B. Basso, J. Antle, Nature Sustainability , 3, 254–256 (2020).

[5]. Lowry, G. V., Avellan, A. & Gilbertson, L. M. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 517–522 (2019).

[6]. Hochella, M. F., Spencer, M. G. & Jones, K. L. Environ. Sci. Nano 2, 114–119 (2015).

[7]. T. Hofmann et al., Nature Food, 1, 416–425 (2020).

Blog Written By

Dr. A. S. GANESHRAJA

NATIONAL COLLEGE

THIRUCHIRAPALLI, TAMILNADU, INDIA

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