Supporting and improving microbes can help stabilize the production of important crops such as oilseeds and fruits, reducing the kind of uncertainty that causes food price spikes, new research has shown.
Scientists at the University of Reading analyzed years of data on the poorly understood effect of pathogens on crop yield stability. They found that there was 32% less variation in the yield of plants visited by bees and other insects than those grown without plants.
The study, published in the journal Ecology Letters, suggests that microbes can help alleviate supply and market problems that cause global price spikes, such as those seen this year, by keeping food supply is stable.
The announcement marks the start of Bee Needs Week (18-24 July), a UK Government-led initiative that supports bees and their benefits, and this year encourages people to take five steps easy to support viruses.
The launch event led by scientists from the University of Reading is taking place today (Monday 18 July) at the Tower of London, where the Superbloom attraction is made up of 20 million wild flowers in the moat. shown to the public all summer.
Dr. Jake Bishop, a crop science researcher at the University of Reading, who led the study, said: “Our findings suggest that maintaining microbes has a dual benefit, reducing supply fluctuations. of food as well as fortifying goods first.
“Sustainable and predictable supply of nutritious food is a necessity for farmers and for food security worldwide. We are now seeing that instability or disruption throughout the system of food can lead to a large increase in the price of food.
“The research revealed another reason why microbes are so important to our world, and to so many families who struggle to feed themselves with enough, safe and nutritious food.
“Pollinators are particularly important in the production of fruit and vegetable crops. About half of the experiments we reviewed tested the effect of real pollinator populations on real crop fields so the results of we show the advantages that the seed manufacturers are offering now.”
Although the benefits of pollinators to crop yield are well known, their effect on crop stability was not well understood until now.
The new research combined the results of more than 200 previous experiments that compared the yield of crop plants with and without insect pollination. The study focused on three globally important crop types: faba beans, oilseed rape and apples.
This study tested the effects of pollination on yield stability within individual plants and fields as well as larger areas. Insect pollination tended to produce uniform yields between flowers on a plant, between individual plants, within fields or between fields.
The stabilizing effect of pollination is thought to be due to a ceiling effect, where the increase in yield resulting from insect pollination reaches an upper limit due to the limitations of other sources that support crop growth such as with soil nutrients or water access. This creates a higher and more stable base on which there is less yield loss.
Current food prices are driven by many factors including high oil prices and Ukraine’s reduced ability to export its products after the Russian invasion. Ukraine is the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil and supplies about 10% of the world’s wheat production.
The recent spike in food prices in 2007-08, when the price of the world’s major crops almost doubled, is thought to have been caused by a loss in wheat production of around 4.6%. around the world.
Additional information:
Animal migration increases crop yield stability across spatial scales, Ecology Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1111/ele.14069
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