Além do tamanho continental da sua área agrícola, existe um outro fator que faz com que os fertilizantes sejam essenciais para a agricultura brasileira. Acontece que boa parte dos solos do país apresenta uma baixa disponibilidade de nutrientes, em razão de serem antigos e intemperizados. Entre os nutrientes mais utilizados na agricultura brasileira, estão o potássio, o nitrogênio, o enxofre e o fósforo. Mas, quanto custa o potássio? Qual o preço vou pagar pelo nitrogênio? Quais são os fertilizantes mais utilizados para fornecer esses nutrientes? Quais são as suas vantagens e limitações? Veja a ..read more

Food security: what it is and its universal importance Food security is a subject that has been extremely approached over the years, especially since the adoption of Goal Number 2 of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals – Zero Hunger and Sustainable Agriculture by several nations and private corporations. To fulfill their agendas, a lot of projects were launched to make agricultural production healthier and more sustainable because food security, according to the United Nations World Food Security Committee, means precisely that at all times, all people have physical, socially ..read more

Approximately more than 60% of sub-Saharan Africans are actively engaged in smallholder farming. Cereal crops such as maize, sorghum, and millet, combined with livestock, are grown as a staple food and source of income for most households. However, the productivity of these crops has dwindled over time due to constraints arising from changes in climatic conditions, leading to an increase in crop pests such as the fall armyworm, moth stem borer, and parasitic weeds known as striga. Limited knowledge, cultural land tenure, poor farming practices including the misuse of agrochemicals also challen ..read more

With alarmingly increasing soil degradation globally, it is imperative to acknowledge the role soil microbiome plays in restoring soil functionality and suitability for sustainable agriculture. Source: Pixabay. Soil biodiversity plays a crucial role in sustaining most life forms. Microbiome, a term used to define a community of all tiny organisms not visible to the naked eye, accounts for about 60%- 80% of soil biological processes such as biogeochemical cycles of soil nutrients. Microbes communicate and work together to ensure nutrient availability translating to a self-sustainable agroecosy ..read more

It is a known fact that the soil is one of the most diverse habitats, holding a very important system of biotic and abiotic elements. We can find all sorts of life in soil, such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and other animals. This variety of living organisms is what we call soil biodiversity. They help maintain and increase the productivity of agroecosystems. However, soil is also a limited and finite resource, which requires attention and care, especially considering that this resource is essential for life on Earth. Soil biodiversity became a more popular topic in the last decade when discu ..read more

In school, we learn in biology class how carbon is released to the atmosphere and absorbed back by nature somehow, and we call it “the carbon cycle”. The process is considerably simple: carbon is released into the air in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), through different mechanisms such as respiration, organic residue decomposition and burning of fossil fuel; and nature stores it back in the oceans and in the form of soil organic carbon. Plants are important actors in the carbon cycle by incorporating CO2, which provide them with energy to develop. However, plants don’t use all the absorbed c ..read more

Soil organisms play a series of fundamental roles in the interactions between soil and plants. Among several factors, soil water availability and drainage are directly governed by soil living organisms. They do that especially through organic matter processing and by changing soil structure. Soil structure: Water and oxygen availability  Soil structure can be defined as the way in which soil particles are organized. Basically, soil is composed of three phases: Solid, liquid and gaseous. The solid phase is formed by mineral and organic particles, while liquid and gaseous phases correspond ..read more

Throughout the Summer of 2017 I was working in the design and development of a project to create a sustainable food forest in Miami, Florida. As a part of my research, I was able to visit certified organic farms in Redlands, Florida. During my visits, I interviewed the owners and their sustainable farmers alike. It was one farm in particular that stood out to me the most: they were using and producing vermicompost on-site at a fairly large scale. Vermicompost derives from the Latin word vermi for worm, as it is essentially worm castings. During this biological process, earthworms are used to ..read more

Agriculture is the foundation of civilization; an activity that allowed our ancestors to abandon the nomadic lifestyle and develop permanent settlements. That was around 12,000 years ago and since then agriculture have been constantly evolving and expanding. New farming methods and inputs were developed, designing what we now know as conventional farming practices. Although conventional agriculture was able to increase yield to feed humanity for the last 300 years, this practice might not be enough to overcome future challenges linked to food security and climate change. It’s estimated that th ..read more

Fungi are a very diverse groups of organisms encompassing a wide range of life forms, from single celled to very complex multicellular organisms. They can be microscopic or present large fruiting bodies with underground systems that extend for miles or even hectares. About 100,000 species have already been identified, but scientists estimate a vast number of species are yet to be cataloged, with the total number ranging from 0.8 to 3.8 million species. Some species can be detrimental to humans, animals and plants, such as mildews, canker, ringworm or thrush. However, due to its vast diversity ..read more