Food production doesn’t have to be a victim of climate change. New research from 密歇根州立大学 suggests that crop yields and the global food supply chain can be preserved by harnessing the critical, and often overlooked, partner in food supply — soil.
这项由 MSU 基金会教授 Bruno Basso 领导并发表在《农业与环境快报》上的研究是同类研究中的第一项，它对土壤在管理与气候变化相关风险方面的重要性提供了批判性见解。
“The long-term sustainability of agricultural systems strongly depends on how we use soil,” Basso said. “This research proves that with the application of innovation through better soil management, we’re one step closer to preserving our food supply and mitigating the effect that climate change and global warming has on our lives.”
By learning how to scientifically harness, protect and improve soil’s health, Basso’s findings prove that crop yields can continue at current production levels or even improve — especially if coupled with adaptive farming practices.
“Up until now, research hasn’t accounted for what soil gives back to the cycle of climate change, and it is arguably the most critical resource to adapt to mitigate its effects,” Basso said. “Ultimately, soil is the ‘home’ of the plants. If we aren’t caring for the soil, plants and crops are unsheltered and left to deal with climate change on their own.”
Basso’s research was part of the Agricultural Model Intercomparing and Improvement Project, or AgMIP, a global initiative linking climate, crop and economic modeling communities to assess the fate of food production under climate change.
Basso spearheaded AgMIP’s soil initiative and proposed that moving forward, soil be positioned as the center of the food production cycle.
“We went into the project knowing that with climate getting hotter, crop yields are forecasted to be lower. If the yield goes down, it also means that the amount of carbon that is returned to soil also goes down, so the question we had was: ‘if this cycle continues, where do we end up, and what role will soil have? And, will we be worse off if we don’t look after soil?’ So we ran crop and soil models to simulate the impact of weather on a crop yield and soil organic carbon to evaluate the feedbacks from soil to climate change,” Basso said.
Basso executed a series of models in Tanzania, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, France, the United States and Australia to test soil’s reactions to changes in temperature and carbon dioxide levels by analyzing soil organic carbon and nitrogen levels.
研究人员发现，二氧化碳补偿了气候造成的产量损失，因为它作为天然肥料帮助作物生长。但是，当分析中包括土壤有机碳损失时，大气中二氧化碳的增加不足以防止产量损失。
“So, through agronomic management, which is ‘doing the right thing at the right time for your crops,’ soil quality and health can be improved.” Basso said.
Basso 解释了农民如何通过更好的农艺管理来保护土壤免受气候变化的影响。这应包括使用覆盖作物、保护性耕作、向土壤中添加有机碳或通过先进的遗传学和农学提高产量。
The forward-thinking approach to crop management — and our global food supply — is largely grounded at the root of plants’ life cycle in the soil they’re planted.
“The approach of accounting for soil’s feedback needs to become a rule when we use crop models when we want to identify adaptation strategies,” Basso said. “The soil that we’ll deal with in 2050 is surely to be different than it is now, so recognizing how to manage it today –along with adaptation strategies for tomorrow — is critical.”
Basso’s research was funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA, and by the Department of International Development of the UK.