Agriculture articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of organic methods is poorly understood. Here, the authors assess the GHG impact of a 100% shift to organic food production in England and Wales and find that direct GHG emissions are reduced with organic farming, but when increased land use abroad to allow for production shortfalls is factored in, GHG emissions are elevated well-above the baseline.

    • Laurence G. Smith
    • , Guy J. D. Kirk
    •  & Adrian G. Williams

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The processes driving soil carbon accretion remain to be poorly understood. Here the authors combined X-ray micro-tomography and zymography to demonstrate that plant-stimulated soil pore formation is a major, hitherto unrecognized, determinant of whether new C inputs are stored or lost to the atmosphere.

    • A. N. Kravchenko
    • , A. K. Guber
    •  & Y. Kuzyakov

  • Article
    | Open Access

    So far identified clostridial neurotoxins target vertebrates. Here, Contreras et al. isolate the clostridial-like neurotoxin PMP1 from Paraclostridium bifermentans strains and show that it selectively targets anopheline mosquitoes by targeting mosquito syntaxin.

    • Estefania Contreras
    • , Geoffrey Masuyer
    •  & Sarjeet S. Gill

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The increase in needs for agricultural commodities is projected to outpace the growth of farmland production globally, leading to high pressure on farming systems in the next decades. Here, the authors investigate the future impact of cropland expansion and intensification on agricultural markets and biodiversity, and suggest the need for balancing agricultural production with conservation goals.

    • Florian Zabel
    • , Ruth Delzeit
    •  & Tomáš Václavík

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether or not China can be rice self-sufficient in the future is in question. Here the authors provide a spatially explicit yield-gap analysis of Chinese rice production under future scenarios, identifying priority areas for improving yields to meet demands by 2030.

    • Nanyan Deng
    • , Patricio Grassini
    •  & Shaobing Peng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When bees carry pollen, it sticks to their legs and it can be carried without being dropped in a range of different humidity conditions. Here the authors find that the adhesive holding the pollen together consists of two phases and the oily phase stabilizes the aqueous phase with respect to humidity changes.

    • Donglee Shin
    • , Won Tae Choi
    •  & J. Carson Meredith

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There has been a lack of multi-year landscape-scale studies on the effect of neonicotinoids on honeybee health. Here, Osterman et al. show that clothianidin exposure via seed-treated rapeseed has no negative impact on honeybee colony development, microbial pathogens/symbionts or immune gene expression.

    • Julia Osterman
    • , Dimitry Wintermantel
    •  & Joachim R. de Miranda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The potential impact of neonicotinoid field exposure on bumblebee microbiota remains unclear. In a landscape—scale study, Wintermantel et al. show that whilst exposure to clothianidin impacts Bombus terrestris performance, it does not affect levels of gut bacteria, viruses or intracellular parasites.

    • Dimitry Wintermantel
    • , Barbara Locke
    •  & Joachim R. de Miranda

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Drivers of crop yield variability require quantification, and historical records can help in improving understanding. Here, Webber et al. report that drought stress will remain a key driver of yield losses in wheat and maize across Europe, and benefits from CO2 will be limited in low-yielding years.

    • Heidi Webber
    • , Frank Ewert
    •  & Daniel Wallach

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Rising demand for ruminant meat and dairy products in developing nations drives increasing GHG and ammonia emissions from livestock. Authors show here that only long-term adoption of global best-practice in sustainable intensification buffered by a short-term coping strategy of green-source trading can offer a way forward.

    • Yuanyuan Du
    • , Ying Ge
    •  & Raphael K. Didham

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Yields vary between different cropping systems, though their temporal stability has not been quantified. Here, Knapp and van der Heijden present a meta-analysis showing that yields in organic agriculture have, per unit food produced, a lower temporal stability.

    • Samuel Knapp
    •  & Marcel G. A. van der Heijden

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Paraquat is a widely used herbicide that is highly toxic to humans upon acute ingestion or chronic exposure. Here, the authors generate a photosensitive formulation that releases paraquat upon exposure to UV light or sunlight, which shows an improved safety profile in zebrafish and mouse models, while maintaining substantial herbicidal activity.

    • Cheng Gao
    • , Qiaoxian Huang
    •  & Ruibing Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Climate oscillations such as El Niño Southern Oscillation may impact global crop production. Here, the authors, using a unified framework of multiple climate oscillations, find that from 1961 to 2010 over two-thirds of the global cropland is located where crop productivity is influenced by climate oscillations.

    • Matias Heino
    • , Michael J. Puma
    •  & Matti Kummu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To achieve the climate target of the Paris Agreement substantial emission reductions will be required across economic sectors. Here the authors show that agriculture can make a significant contribution to non-CO2 mitigation efforts through structural change in the livestock sector and the deployment of technical options.

    • Stefan Frank
    • , Robert Beach
    •  & Michael Obersteiner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Organic agriculture requires fewer inputs but produces lower yields than conventional farming. Here, via a modeling approach, Muller et al. predict that if food waste and meat consumption are reduced, organic agriculture could feed the world without requiring cropland expansion.

    • Adrian Muller
    • , Christian Schader
    •  & Urs Niggli

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Quantifying the toxicity of herbicides applied in the field is difficult. Here, the author applies a quotient to evaluate changes in relative toxicity over the past 25 years and finds that increased herbicide use does not necessarily constitute increased toxicity.

    • Andrew R. Kniss

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Future agricultural productivity is threatened by high temperatures. Here, using 9 crop models, Schaubergeret al. find that yield losses due to temperatures >30 °C are captured by current models where yield losses by mild heat stress occur mainly due to water stress and can be buffered by irrigation.

    • Bernhard Schauberger
    • , Sotirios Archontoulis
    •  & Katja Frieler

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Invasive insects impose many economic costs, for example by consuming crops and spreading disease. Here, Bradshaw et al. compile a database of the costs of invasive insects and conservatively estimate that the yearly global cost (in 2014-equivalent US dollars) is at least $70 billion for goods and services and $6.9 billion for human health.

    • Corey J. A. Bradshaw
    • , Boris Leroy
    •  & Franck Courchamp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Wheat is the world’s second most favoured food source, yet its production has climatic consequences. Here the authors quantify the carbon footprint of wheat production systems and evaluate potential alternative farming practices, with a reduced negative impact on climate.

    • Yantai Gan
    • , Chang Liang
    •  & Robert P. Zentner

  • Article |

    The evolution of agronomic conditions after domestication in the Fertile Crescent remains poorly understood. Here, Araus et al. show that water availability and soil fertility for crops were higher in the past and that domesticated cereals showed a progressive increase in kernel size following domestication.

    • José L. Araus
    • , Juan P. Ferrio
    •  & Ramón Buxó

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Food security and the conservation of natural ecosystems largely rely on the increase in crop yields. Here, the authors examine global crop yield trends since 1960, and establish a robust statistical framework for estimating historical trajectories and identifying yield plateaus.

    • Patricio Grassini
    • , Kent M. Eskridge
    •  & Kenneth G. Cassman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Between 8000 and 4000 BP, agriculture spread throughout Europe changing consumption patterns and increasing populations. Shennan et al. analyse radiocarbon date distributions and paleoclimate proxies to show that agriculture also triggered regional population oscillations and that climate forcing is an unlikely cause.

    • Stephen Shennan
    • , Sean S. Downey
    •  & Mark G. Thomas

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