Solutions to global food security to come from innovations in soil technology

Soil science will be fundamental in overcoming the growing threat of global food and fuel crop shortages as the world's population continues to rise, according to innovative research by a University of Sheffield expert.

Professor of environmental engineering science Steve Banwart, of the University of Sheffield's department of civil and structural engineering, collaborated with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Environmental Sustainability Knowledge Transfer Network (ESKTN) in a report published by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

The report says soils will play a central and critical role in delivering enough food and fuel crops to sustain the increasing global population.

The report, Securing Soils For Sustainable Agriculture highlights a number of actions that must be taken to ensure that the UK soil research is at the forefront of technological advances in this area.

Professor Banwart, who co-authored the report, says, ''Our research consortium has shown how plants and soil fungi work together to direct the solar energy captured by photosynthesis into the root zone to target and extract specific nutrients from soil minerals.

''Advances like this are paving the way for precision agriculture, where crops and soil are managed together to gain a much more targeted and efficient uptake of nutrients. It's exactly the type of science that the UK can utilise for new agricultural technology that increases production and reduces the demand for energy and chemical inputs to fields.''