Introduction: Water, soil, crops, and people in a changing climate: the agronomic legacy of Dr. B.A. Stewart

Abstract

Food is an absolute necessity for human survival on the planet. However, how and what is grown depends on where plants are cultivated. A symposium entitled, "Water, Soils, Crops and People in a Changing Climate", was held during the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society of Agronomy in Baltimore, MD. It provided an opportunity to reflect on the work done by B.A. Stewart and other dryland researchers who conducted the pioneering work upon which many current studies are based. Dryland regions pose unique challenges to growing food and other field crops, principally because of a lack in plant-available water during the growing season. One solution is to supplement natural precipitation with irrigation, but that is not always possible. Crop production practices evolved so that wheat (Triticum spp.) and other field crops could be grown in these regions. One of these was summer fallow, where arable land is idled from 14 to 21 months so that soil water reservoirs are recharged prior to growing field crops. Excessive erosion and other problems created by summer fallow became apparent as this practice was adopted. These challenges were acknowledged in the monograph Dryland Agriculture

Agriculture, biology, and environment: Twenty first century challenges and opportunities

“…Scientists discover new management approaches by testing treatments in carefully designed experiments. These experiments may investigate the effect of biotech crops on the human genome or impact of invasive pathogens, aridity, and salinity on functionality of the cropping systems (Carr & Xue, 2020). In addition to increase the crop production and quality of seeds by using the biological approaches to use the plant growth promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.…”

“…One of the most fundamental needs for the global population is the supply of food. Plant based foods are grown via multiple cropping systems which depend upon the growing conditions and crop cultivation strategies (Carr & Xue, 2020).…”

“…Questions regarding global warming, rising sea levels, and the need to increase food production are changing these local questions to that of a national and international importance. Our discussions are built on the papers of Gardner (1978), Carr and Xue (2020), FAO (2017), andFAO et al (2020) that provided a framework for discussions on scientific activities and historical connections of agriculture, agronomy, food production and security, nutrition, and climate change. The goal of the "International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences" (ABS) is to expand these discussions by improving communication between the applied and fundamental scientists in an effort to focus the scientific community on the unknown problems in the future.…”

“…Questions regarding global warming, rising sea levels, and the need to increase food production are changing these local questions to that of a national and international importance. Our discussions are built on the papers of Gardner (1978), Carr and Xue (2020), FAO (2017), and FAO et al. (2020) that provided a framework for discussions on scientific activities and historical connections of agriculture, agronomy, food production and security, nutrition, and climate change.…”

“…One of the most fundamental needs for the global population is the supply of food. Plant based foods are grown via multiple cropping systems which depend upon the growing conditions and crop cultivation strategies (Carr & Xue, 2020). Based on the United Nation’s revised population increase, the global agricultural demand has also increased, showing an increase of almost 49% from 2013–2050 (FAO, 2017).…”