Soils: Environment, Health and Society

Background T he “Green Revolution” since the 1950’s led to an increase of crop yield at least three times greater than in the previous century, via the introduction of fertilizers, pesticides, and new crop varieties. However, while most crop yields are no longer increasing, the world population is. The sustainability of our current “toolbox” of fertilizers and pesticides is also declining, partly due to the many negative impacts of chemicals in our environment. Shifting plant breeding targets to promote the beneficial use of soil microbes combined with reduced agricultural inputs could be a key contribution to an “ Ever green Revolution”. Soils can partially replace many common agricultural inputs and improve nutrient availability, and reduce disease incidence and pest pressures, but only if we facilitate healthy soil for microbes which in turn help crop plants to grow. Our research aims to find new ways of increasing crop yield and creating an “Evergreen Revolution”; here we demonstrate that management of soil is key to this aim. Approach Most of our crops have been bred under optimal conventional agricultural conditions — tilled soil, high fertilizer and pesticide inputs, and monocultures with few weeds — and therefore when compared to wild relatives, they have fewer traits allowing them to benefit from interactions Soils provide grounds for an Evergreen Revolution 4 CHAPTER 1