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"THE GREEN REVOLUTION temporarily alleviated world hunger, but also reduced biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and carbon (C) sequestration that agricultural lands can provide. Meanwhile, economic disparity and food insecurity within and among countries continues." https://lnkd.in/eQvzCYA View in LinkedIn

HUMAN HEALTH. "Arden Anderson, a soil scientist and agricultural consultant turned physician, has long argued that human health is directly correlated to soil health." https://lnkd.in/eyzuPzu View in LinkedIn

FALSE GAINS. "The "Green Revolution" was driven by a fear of how to feed massive population growth. It did produce more food but it was at the cost of the long term health of the soil. And many would argue that the food it did produce was progressively less nutritious as the soil became depleted of organic matter, minerals, and microorganisms." https://lnkd.in/eyzuPzu View in LinkedIn

"GREEN REVOLUTION technological advances resulted in plant genetic combinations that responded to chemical inputs with high yields. Implementation in Mexico transformed the country from a wheat-importing to a wheat-exporting nation. This prompted India, Pakistan, and Turkey to import Mexican wheat germplasms and technologies. India, Pakistan, and Turkey each saw wheat production double within five years after adapting Mexican wheat varieties." https://lnkd.in/eQvzCYA View in LinkedIn

"OVER 35 PERCENT of the planet’s ice-free surface has been cleared of natural vegetation to grow crops or graze livestock, exposing it to sharp increases in erosion and steep losses in soil organic carbon, soil nutrients, and biodiversity." https://lnkd.in/ezrxv9C View in LinkedIn

"THE MASS DESTRUCTION of soil microorganisms began with technological advances in the early twentieth century. The number of tractors in the U.S. went from zero to three million by 1950. Farmers increased the size of their fields and made cropping more specialized. Advances in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers made them abundant and affordable. Ammonium nitrate used in WWII for munitions was then used for agriculture." https://lnkd.in/eyzuPzu View in LinkedIn

WORLD SOIL REVIEW. "The overwhelming conclusion of the first-ever comprehensive report on the world’s soil resources, prepared by the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), is that the majority of the world’s soil resources are in only fair, poor or very poor condition... and that conditions are getting worse in farm more cases than they are improving." https://lnkd.in/ezrxv9C View in LinkedIn

SOIL MICROBIOME AND SUSTAINABILITY. "At the system level, the microbiome plays an integral role in virtually all soil processes, such that microbial abundance, activity and composition will largely determine sustainable productivity of agricultural land." https://lnkd.in/e4AX4yB View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE this next weekend is about living soils. 2015 is the International Year of Soils, and the world soil Report Card is bleak. Just as medical biology has been exposed to a radical paradigm change with our understanding of the human microbiome, so also has this same thinking pervaded the cutting-edge of soil science, supported by data. The parallel of the chemical "Green Revolution" and our current over-use of antibiotics is unmistakable. https://lnkd.in/ezrxv9C View in LinkedIn

RANGE OF MICROBIOMES. The microbiome can be considered as an extension of the host genome. Microbiomes associated with above-ground (phyllosphere), below-ground (rhizosphere) and internal (endosphere) tissues of the same plant are distinct. Also, microbiomes occupying the same niche of different plants can be very different, particularly when the microbiome is viewed at fine taxonomic levels such as genus, species and strain." https://lnkd.in/e_jsyuZ View in LinkedIn