More than food: Why restoring the cycle of organic matter in sustainable plant production is essential for the One Health nexus

Abstract

One Health professes that the health of organisms is interconnected through the exploitation of planetary resources, trade, and transportation, in particular. The impetus for the emergence of this concept in the early 2000s was knowledge of the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases that put humans at risk to diseases carried by animals. In spite of the intended comprehensiveness of One Health, the place of plant health in this concept is vague, and few issues about plant health are debated in the scientific literature related to One Health. Here, we explore the history of concepts related to One Health in an attempt to understand why there is this schism between the plant sciences and the medical and veterinary sciences beyond the prism of zoonotic diseases. We illustrate the rich history of concepts in the plant sciences concerning the oneness of plants, animals and humans, and the debates about the definition and scope of sustainability that are precursors to One Health. These concepts continue to be foundations for research and development, particularly for food security and food safety. The emergence of these concepts from plant sciences was based on fundamental understanding of the food web – where plants are food for humans and animals whose digestive processes create important resources for plant growth and health. Yet, this latter part of the food web – recycling of manures in particular – was ruptured during modernization of agriculture. We explain how attaining sustainable One Health depends on restoring this part of the food web via soil stewardship, whose principal guarantors are the ensemble of actors in plant production.