|
|
Biography |
|
|
Professor Uphoff has been teaching at Cornell University since 1970 after completing his PhD at Berkeley. He has served as chair of Cornell's Rural Development Committee 1971-90, then director of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development 1990-2005, and is currently director of the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs.
After several decades of involvement with agricultural and rural development worldwide as an applied social science, since 1999 he has become increasingly engaged with agroecological innovation, with particular attention to the roles of microorganisms in plant health and performance.
He has been studying, evaluating and communicating about the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) since 1997 and now works with the more inclusive System of Crop Intensification (SCI).
These management systems are raising crop yields with less reliance on external inputs, evoking better phenotypes from available genotypes. They also give crops more protection against adverse effects of climate change by making modifications in how plants, soil, water and nutrients are managed. SRI benefits have now been demonstrated in >50 countries.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abstract |
|
|
|
|
Opportunities to Get More Food Production and More Climate-Resilience by Producing Better Phenotypes from Available Genotypes: Mobilizing Services of the Plant-Soil Microbiome |
|
|
|
|
|
Opportunities to Get More Food Production and More Climate-Resilience by Producing Better Phenotypes from Available Genotypes: Mobilizing Services of the Plant-Soil Microbiome
Norman Uphoff, Cornell University
The agricultural sectors on our planet will need to continue increasing our food production significantly to meet human needs in this century at the same time that our environments for producing crops are becoming more adverse. Countries are confronted with: (a) less arable land per capita and accelerating soil degradation from tillage, chemical applications and other practices; (b) reduced availability, reliability and quality of water; and (c) rising costs of production in terms of energy and petro-based inputs. These unfavorable trends are accompanied by (d) more crop-production hazards of climate-induced stresses, both biotic (pests and diseases) and abiotic (drought, storms and other extreme weather events).
To be sure, some further advances in crop yield potential and resistance to temperature and rainfall variance may be made through plant breeding, whether conventional or GM. Yet we must bear in mind that successful crop production depends essentially on the expression of any genetic potentials, since for their nourishment, people eat not genotypes but phenotypes. These derive from the interaction between organisms’ genetic potentials and the respective environments in which they take form and, hopefully, thrive. In recent years, it is fair to say that more attention has been devoted to making genetic changes in crops than to optimizing their contexts for growth, especially their below-ground environments.
Experiences with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and its derived but more encompassing System of Crop Intensification (SCI) have been indicating clearly that modifications in the management of crops, water, soil and nutrients can mobilize the services and protection of beneficial plant-soil microbiomes. These are similar to the human microbiomes which we are learning are so crucial for our own existence and health. With SRI/SCI management, it is seen that the resulting crops are more productive, giving greater yield with a reduction rather than an increase in external inputs (important for sustainable development); but also that they are more resilient under such stresses as drought, storms, extreme temperatures, and pests and diseases.
This sounds too good to be true, but such benefits from SRI management of rice have been seen now in over 50 countries (http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/countries/index.html). Moreover, the agronomic principles and methods of SRI, developed with and for rice, are being seen to improve the performance of other crops -- such as wheat, finger millet, sugarcane, tef, and various legumes and even some vegetables (http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/aboutsri/othercrops/index.html). This presentation will share information on how SRI/SCI crops are resisting abiotic and biotic stresses while raising production with less reliance on external inputs, but producing more fruitful and robust phenotypes from given genotypes.
Much remains to be researched and understood in this domain, which is becoming appreciated only in recent years as scientific work in microbiology, soil ecology and epigenetics has advanced with more and better tools for observation and analysis. But accumulating evidence already points to the many and essential contributions that are made by beneficial microorganisms to crops’ productivity and resilience.
Advances in knowledge and practice in this area will become ever more important as the effects of climate change, reviewed by Dr. El-Beltagy, affect our agricultural sectors more profoundly. This presentation will focus more on bacterial symbionts while Prof. Rodriguez in his presentation will give further evidence of the beneficial effects of fungal endosymbionts for making crops more resistant to drought, salinity and other stresses.
|
|
|
|
|