The role of soil in the contribution of food and feed

Abstract

Soils play a critical role in the production of food and feed for a growing global population. Here, we review global patterns in soil characteristics, agricultural production and the fate of embedded soil nutrients. Nitrogen- and organic-rich soils supported the highest crop yields, yet the efficiency of nutrient utilization was concentrated in regions with lower crop productivity and lower rates of chemical fertilizer inputs. Globally, soil resources were concentrated in animal feed, resulting in large inefficiencies in nutrient utilization and losses from the food system. Intercontinental transport of soil-derived nutrients displaced millions of tonnes of nitrogen and phosphorus annually, much of which was ultimately concentrated in urban waste streams. Approximately 40% of the global agricultural land area was in small farms providing over 50% of the world's food and feed needs but yield gaps and economic constraints limit the ability to intensify production on these lands. To better use and protect soil resources in the global food system, policies and actions should encourage shifts to more nutrient-efficient diets, strategic intensification and technological improvement, restoration and maintenance of soil fertility and stability, and enhanced resilience in the face of global change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of soils in delivering Nature's Contributions to People’.

Soil-derived Nature's Contributions to People and their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

“…Each paper in this issue [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] has presented evidence for the contribution of soils to NCP. Table 5 summarizes the potential positive, negative and context-specific contributions of soils to NCP arising from these papers.…”

“…Previous studies have examined the role of soils in contributing to ecosystem services, showing that soils have a decisive and positive contribution to many [1][2][3][4][5]. Other papers in this special issue [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] have considered each ecosystem service in turn, classified according to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Nature's Contributions to People (NCP, [21,22]), thus providing the most comprehensive treatment to date of the role of soils in delivering NCP. Other studies have examined the role of soils in contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, [23][24][25][26]), arguing that soils also play a vital role in delivering the SDGs.…”

“…Like Keesstra et al [27], Smith et al [29] first considered the functions provided by the soils and mapped these to NCP, with the delivery of these NCP then mapped on to the delivery of the SDGs. We use a similar approach here, drawing on the extensive analysis presented in the other papers presented in this issue [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], to examine the role of soils in contributing, positively or negatively, to the UN SDGs.…”

The role of soils in delivering Nature's Contributions to People

“…The papers in this theme issue deal with each of these NCP in turn, except the NCP 'learning and inspiration', 'supporting identities' and 'physical and psychological experiences' which are dealt with together [13]. The final paper in this issue synthesizes the findings of previous papers in the issue, examines the cross-cutting NCP 'maintenance of options' and examines the extent to which soils contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [12].…”

“…McElwee [13] reviews the literature on soil and NCP around learning and inspiration, physical and psychological experiences, and supporting identities, revealing a range of relationships to imagining, understanding and experiencing soil. Soils have played a large role in human creative endeavours, are the root of significant relationships to the environment and can be conceptualized through key metaphors, ideas and theory as a bridge linking culture and nature together.…”