Resources for Crop Production: Accessing the Unavailable

An acute imbalance between human population and food production is projected, partially due to increasing resource scarcity; dietary shifts and the current course of technology alone will not soon solve the problem. Natural ecosystems, typically characterized by high species richness and perennial growth habit, have solved many of the resource–acquisition problems faced by crops, making nature a likely source of insights for potential application in commercial agriculture. Further research on undomesticated plants and natural ecosystems, and the adaptations that enable them to meet their needs for N, P, and water, could change the face of commercial food production, including on marginal lands. Natural ecosystems and undomesticated plants have solved many resource-acquisition problems – problems challenging agriculture with economic and societal constraints on fertilizer, water and fossil energy. Symbiotic N2 fixation input can best be enhanced by focus on host plant. Biologically mediated extraction of phosphate from soils is widespread – geographically and phylogenetically – in nature. Efficacy of water use can be increased by temporal regulation of transpiration, by deeper-rooted crops, and by hydraulic redistribution via roots from wetter to drier soil where it can become available to companion species.