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Mechanistic insights into how soil-borne contaminants impair plant physiology and agricultural output
Summary
This review paper pulls together existing research showing how pollutants like microplastics, heavy metals, and overused pesticides are damaging soil health, poisoning the microbes that keep soil fertile, and leaving harmful residues in our crops. This matters because it means the food supply chain is being squeezed from multiple angles, lower harvests, higher farming costs, and contaminated produce that can be rejected for sale, while these same soil pollutants may end up on our plates and in our environment long-term.
Food security depends on agriculture, but excessive use of synthetic chemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers, has resulted in the loss of soil nutrients and the build-up of new pollutants including microplastics and heavy metals. Reduced crop production and quality result from these pollutants’ disruption of soil microbiota, degradation of soil health, and contribution to residue accumulation. Furthermore, excessive use of agrochemicals has increased production costs, necessitated more chemical inputs, and hastened the emergence of resistant insect populations. These issues are made worse by global climate change, which modifies soil conditions and increases pest pressure, ultimately lowering agricultural output and costing farmers money. Additionally, the presence of contaminant residues in agricultural produce frequently results in export rejection, which affects trade and the livelihoods of farmers. This review looks at how new toxins affect agriculture, emphasizing how they contribute to decreased production, environmental deterioration, and unstable economies.