This report by Friends of the Earth finds that most no-till systems — a farming practice that reduces tillage and ploughing —  are responsible for one-third of total annual pesticide use in the U.S. can be attributed to no-till corn and soy production alone. The report argues that this practice is being promoted as a climate solution but says there is no clear link between no-till and carbon sequestration. 

This article Fertilizers Europe claims that the EU is financing Russia’s war in Ukraine by importing fertilizer and recommends domestic, low carbon domestic capacity in the EU. 

The war in Ukraine has propelled the use of minerals as fertilisers in food production to the centre of a global debate about food security. Potash and phosphate rock surged in price after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. As a result western mining companies have been rapidly expanding into fertiliser production. 

The dramatic increases in agricultural yields over the 20th century have been supported by the broad spread application of fertiliser containing, amongst other elements, phosphorus. Whilst phosphate can be obtained from mining, the vast majority is obtained from cheap sulphur, which is a byproduct of refining fossil fuels. As the energy sector decarbonises, there will therefore be a large decrease in the availability of sulphur, leading to a rapid increase in price.  

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) on UK cropland, i.e. adding crushed rocks to soils (read more about the process here), could sequester 6–30 MtCO2 yr−1 by 2050, providing up to 45% of the atmospheric carbon removal necessary to reach national net zero goals. ERW can also reduce nitrous oxide emissions from soils, reduce soil acidification (through formation of carbonate) and reduce fertiliser requirements (by increasing supply of phosphorus and potassium). The paper questions the need for energy-intensive milling of rocks into fine particles, finding that particles on sites with high weathering potential are weathered rapidly regardless of size.

This paper finds that organic agriculture has the potential to increase yields in sub-Saharan Africa in some limited cases, but that in many cases, organic agriculture performs at similar levels to conventional agriculture (varied results, with some crops showing higher yields and some showing lower yields).

This perspective article by Jennifer Clapp examines the effects of corporate consolidation in the global seed and agrochemical industry. Clapp argues that corporations in this sector with concentrated power can influence the wider food system in many ways, including by influencing markets, technology and governance. The global seed and agrochemical sector is dominated by just four firms - Bayer, Corteva, ChemChina-Syngenta and BASF - down from six in the early 2000s. 

This article in The Atlantic explores the role that phosphorus - long thought to be a limiting factor in the productivity of the biosphere - plays in the food system. Phosphorus fertiliser has historically come from bones, phosphate rock deposits and human waste. Today, while there are fears of a shortage of mined phosphorus, phosphorus runoff also pollutes water and harms aquatic ecosystems. Companies are now trying to close the phosphorus loop by recovering the fertiliser from human sewage and animal waste.

This book (publication date 30 October 2020), presents interdisciplinary insights on the controlled release of fertilisers, including chapters from researchers in the fields of agriculture, polymer science, and nanotechnology.