Farming systems to return land for nature: It's all about soil health and re-carbonization of the terrestrial biosphere

Abstract

Evolution of agriculture and the attendant increase in food production has increased the world human population from 2 to 20 Million (M) about 8000 BCE to 8 Billion (B) in 2022. The rise in population, along with increase in its demands and growing affluence with as strong impact on planetary processes as any geologic force, has led to the naming of this era as “Anthropocene”. Global land area under agriculture, 1.5 ​B ​ha under cropland and 3.77 ​B ​ha under grazing land and covering ∼40% of Earth's surface under managed ecosystems, has drastically transformed the planet Earth with strong perturbations of the biogeochemical cycling of water, carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and other elements and the attendant global warming, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, decreased renewability and increased eutrophication of water. Thus, returning some land to nature by eco-intensification of agro-ecosystems, would be a prudent strategy to strengthen planetary processes, adapt and mitigate anthropogenic climate change, improve water quality and renewability, strengthen biodiversity, and advance Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations albeit beyond 2030. In addition to reducing food waste and consuming more plant-based diet, adopting appropriate and site-specific farming systems can play an important role in saving land for nature. However, as is the case with other scientific issues, eco-intensification for sparing land is also a debatable issue. Nonetheless, the overall strategy is to “produce more from less” by using nature-positive agriculture which can protect ecologically-sensitive natural vegetation, reverse degradation trends, restore degraded soils and deserted ecosystems, and return ∼50% (2.5 ​B ​ha) of land area used for agriculture in 2020s (∼5 ​B ​ha) to nature by 2100 through adoption of innovative farming systems designed for restoration of soil health and re-carbonization of the terrestrial biosphere.