Why nonconventional materials are answers for sustainable agriculture
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REVIEW Why nonconventional materials are answers for sustainable agriculture
Caue Ribeiro, Embrapa Instrumentation, São Carlos, SP 13560-970, Brazil; and Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-3): Electrochemical Process Engineering, Jülich 52425, Germany Marcelo Carmo, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-3): Electrochemical Process Engineering, Jülich 52425, Germany Address all correspondence to Caue Ribeiro at [email protected] (Received 26 September 2018; accepted 26 April 2019)
ABSTRACT The increase of agricultural production in a sustainable scenario depends on the development of new technologies to optimize the use of resources, especially fertilizers. Novel technologies in materials can provide means to the controlled release of inputs as well as to enable strategies for using poorly soluble sources. Modern agriculture is facing a productivity challenge due to the 9 billion people demands for the next 50 years. To that, the productivity increase requests improvements in input efficiency to fill economic requirements as well as reducing their environmental impacts. Several materials can be specially designed for an adequate release of these inputs (mainly fertilizers) including ion-exchange materials, coatings and high-adsorption capacity materials. Noteworthy materials are nanoparticulate fertilizers and nanocomposites, where their size and structure are useful to control the solubilization, and consequently, the nutrient availability for plants in a synchronized way, avoiding losses to environment. Therefore, this review aims to introduce a wide view of available and in-development technologies in materials for the best management of agricultural inputs, focused in the sustainable use of fertilizers and minimal environmental impact. These different strategies offer a portfolio of possible solutions for sustainable agriculture in the next years. Keywords: coating; composite; diffusion; nanostructure
DISCUSSION POINT • The discussion about sustainable agriculture has been arising due to the growing pressure of world’s population for food faced to the competition with fibers and bioenergy production. Increasing production without higher land occupation depends on the better use of agricultural inputs. Not only fertilizers have impact in the full production chain (from energy point of view to environmental impact due losses) but also some sources are not renewable (as phosphates), pressing for better utilization technologies.
Introduction Agriculture is a key activity for human life. Food production is the most visible face, but fibers and bio-based energy production are gaining attention and tend to be among the main concerns for sustainable future, avoiding the competition for
available resources (land, water, etc.).1,2 Two factors are continuously pressing the agriculture for higher yields: the population growth and the increasing access to goods in developing countries. In fact, a significant part of the world income
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