Healthy soil and healthy crops are one connected system
Lal R
Soil Health
The compost you add to your raised beds isn't just plant food, it's part of the same living system that determines whether crops worldwide can resist drought and disease.
Researchers are proposing that we stop treating soil quality, plant vigor, and human nutrition as separate problems. Instead they call for a 'crop health' approach where improving soil directly improves the food it produces, similar to how doctors now think about human, animal, and environmental health together. The idea is especially urgent in regions hit hardest by climate change, water shortages, and food insecurity.
Key Findings
Crop health is defined as plant vigor plus resilience to stress plus the ability to produce safe, nutritious food while protecting soil and environmental quality
The approach mirrors the 'One Health' model, extending it to include soil, plants, ecosystems, and planetary processes as one indivisible system
Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America are highlighted as regions where undernutrition, soil degradation, and environmental decline are most tightly linked
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists are pushing a 'crop health' framework that treats soil, plants, and people as one connected system, arguing that fixing soil degradation and pollution is just as critical to solving world hunger as growing more food.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Crop health management for food and nutritional security and soil health.
The concept of "crop health" is in accordance with the "one health" approach, which states that "health of soil, plants, animals, people, ecosystems, and the planetary processes is one and indivisi...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Climate adaptation in plants refers to the physiological and evolutionary mechanisms through which plants adjust to changing environmental conditions, including temperature shifts, altered precipitation patterns, and seasonal variations. Understanding these processes is essential for plant science
arrow_forward Explore topic