Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability ’s Post

Recent scientific advances have spurred interest in how microbial communities can support #soilhealth, food quality, and #humanhealth. A new publication by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is available for download and/or purchase. Entitled, "Exploring Linkages Between Soil Health and Human Health". A PDF is available of the full publication for subscribers (requires a simple signup) at no cost. Check it out:  https://lnkd.in/evnF2fns

I'm excited to announce a new @The National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine report, which explores the linkages between soil health and human health. The report finds that to improve soil health, federal agencies need to promote the importance of soil health, support translational research, and develop a coordinated national approach to monitor soil health over time. The report also says there is a pressing need to determine which microbial features, if any, contribute to quantifying or fortifying health in both human and soil systems and to understand the direct and indirect roles of soil, alongside other environmental factors, in influencing human microbial colonization and subsequent health outcomes. Read the report: https://lnkd.in/gDNeEjUq

I'm really excited by this approach, using a One Health approach to understand the linkages between soil health and human health.

I'm excited to be part of a new report (released today) by National Academy of Sciences. We delved into the linkages between soil health and human health using a one-health framework. This is a groundbreaking approach, as the environmental component of one health and its connections to humans are often less studied compared to linkages between human and animals. Within the environmental sector, soils are the most understudied aspect of this puzzle. Our report emphasizes the need for: *Promoting the importance of soils as modulators of human health *Supporting translational, cross soil and human health domain research *Developing a coordinated national approach to monitor soil health over time *Decoding microbial features contributing to health in both humans and soils *and many more! If you are in Atlanta at the American Society of Microbiology - come listen to me and report co-author, Dr. Kali Kneil discuss the microbial aspects of this report in a meet the expert session tomorrow. B304, GWCC @ 5:15 Friday June 14th. Hope to see you there! #SoilHealth #HumanHealth #OneHealth #EnvironmentalScience #TranslationalResearch

Exploring Linkages Between Soil Health and Human Health A new report highlights the potential for discoveries at the intersection of soil health and human health. It offers research recommendations on the connections between soil and human health, food nutritional value, agricultural productivity, contaminant reduction, and soil health improvement. Yield-maximizing practices have degraded soil organic matter, structure, water-holding capacity, and increased salinity, harming essential microbial communities. Recent scientific advances have increased interest in how these microbial communities can benefit soil health, food quality, and human health. Furthermore, climate affects the multiple and coupled physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in soil health through changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, and precipitation patterns. In this context, there is need and call for investigating the links between soil health and human health. This report provide further information. https://lnkd.in/gMttgWVs? #agriculture #soilhealth

Did you know that microplastics can inhibit the water holding capacity of soils? Or that there are hundreds of thousands of potential antibiotic compounds in soil yet to be identified? Neither did I until I read this paper. We're still so much in the dark about soils and their impact on human health, despite a massive accumulation of qualitative data. This is true of so much of the natural world. Our reductionist, human centric view of the last several centuries, has blinkered us to the interconnectedness of all things. Time for that to change ... https://lnkd.in/g3Yq8xbQ

The concept of soil health is vacuous and unhelpful, envious of medical and health sciences unless we identify and define rigorous landscape and ecosystem-level reference states of "healthy soil" to determine soil health management goals. Critical reference state attributes could include: 1. Biogeochemical cycling (nutrient uptake, storage, release, immobilization, mineralization, decomposition) 2. Water retention 3. Aggregate stability 4. pH regulation 5. Microbial diversity 6. Earthworm abundance 7. Bulk density (pore size diversity) 8. Pathogens/parasites 9. Organic C and N fractions We must break from the narrow confines of soil chemicals (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and selected micro-nutrients) and crop yield measurements of soil health. More importantly, soil health – a primordial and rapidly evolving concept – must rise to a genuinely transdisciplinary field that uniquely connects the health of a soil pedon to planetary health.

"Revolutionary breakthrough! Researchers from the University of Southampton, China, and Austria successfully manipulate plant microbiomes, enhancing 'good' bacteria to safeguard against diseases. Published in Nature Communications, this discovery might drastically cut the necessity for harmful pesticides. Join the movement towards understanding microbiomes' impact on health and the environment – it's not just our bodies, but also our plants benefitting from this cutting-edge research!" #plantpathology #inovation #agriculture

Do you know what’s in your salad 🥗? Of the 26,000 biomolecules found in the plants we eat, most are still unidentified, and their health effects generally unknown. Understanding these biomolecules is the goal of The Periodic Table of Food Initiative (PTFI) and it becomes even more important as climate change reduces available nutrients in some crops. Read about this groundbreaking work that will change the way we approach human health: https://lnkd.in/ehBNiXwd Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT

🌽 In January, VIB submitted applications for three field trials involving genome-edited maize, building on promising greenhouse results indicating increased resistance to climate stress and improved digestibility. 🌽 The VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology employs CRISPR-Cas9 for precise genetic modifications, aiming to enhance plant resilience to climate changes and diseases. 🌽 The trials, conducted in collaboration with ILVO (Instituut voor Landbouw, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek), seek to validate these findings in actual cultivation conditions. 🌽 1st trial: led by Prof. Hilde Nelissen, focuses on making maize resistant to prolonged drought by manipulating DNA folding components. 🌽 2nd trial: under Prof. Lieven De Veylder, investigates whether eliminating a cell cycle regulator enhances resistance to DNA damage induced by environmental stress. 🌽 3rd trial: directed by Prof. Wout Boerjan, aims to reduce lignin content in maize cell walls for better sugar extraction, contributing to more digestible plants. 🌽 These trials align with ILVO (Instituut voor Landbouw, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek)'s strategic research collaboration with VIB, underscoring the importance of translating greenhouse success into practical, sustainable agricultural solutions. Like and share the knowledge :) Dr. Hamed Altaweel #maize #corn #climatechange #drought #plantscience #plantbreeding