Soil Restoration: Drought Resistance, Soil Health Improvement, Toxin Sequestration and Worms

Unprecedented population growth is being experienced globally and there is low food production that is unable to meet the demand due to population growth. The Agricultural Production System since the 1950 has become heavily dependent upon chemical inputs and the land and sea have been significantly affected by this buildup of chemicals including the rise of dead zones around the world. This opinion article points to the harsh realities of this overworked system and how it affects us all. There is a conclusion about what the future holds and where the Agriculture Industry needs to go towards greater sustainability. Agriculture contaminants from previous years affect soil health and the future sustainability of crop production not to mention the deleterious effects on streams, lakes and ocean areas that are being polluted and species dying to support the faster growing. Plants are currently not producing to their optimal potential to provide for adequate global food security. It is our opinion that soil health is the key to the success of improving crop production. Recent research will show the overall effects on the very culture of soil health, on runoff effects on cyanobacteria, devastation of biological systems both in the soil and water that support life and decontaminate the downstream pollutants of phosphorous and nitrogen that come from the agriculture inputs and the lack of efficiently reining in the effects of the unused products that wash away. New products are contemplated to decrease the use of fertilizer, increase the growth of plants, increase nutritional density of the foods being raised and increase product awareness at all levels of the food chain to help drive better choices about what we eat and how it affects ecosystems all over the world. Also, there are bright spots in how to use trees to help soil restoration.

Keywords: Soil restoration; Regenerative agriculture; Ecosystem health; Cyanobacteria; Phosphate reduction; Nitrogen reduction; Agriculture runoff; Tree productivity and agriculture; Water health; Maize