Sow Much More Than Seeds: The Microbial Future with André Sampaio Ferreira

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to Mind the Globe, the podcast where we dive into some of today's most pressing global challenges.

We are a team of seven international students from the Junior Research Lab at Institut Agro Montpellier, here to explore the issues that shape our world and our future.

Hello listeners and welcome to Mind the Globe, the podcast where we dive into the challenges shaping our planet and explore the paths forward.

My name is Caetano Bortoli, I am an agronomics engineering student in Brazil and I'm currently attending the Institut Agro Montpellier, and today I will be talking to Professor André Sampaio Ferreira, teacher and researcher in the Londrina State University.

Together we'll be addressing the effects of rhizobacteria in plant nutrition and its contribution to regenerative agriculture battling climate change.

Welcome Professor André, I would like to thank you for your time and say that it is an honour and a pleasure to have you here.

Before we start the conversation, could you please introduce yourself to the audience and approach your background and what drove you to be working in the field of phytotechnics?

Hello everyone, it's a pleasure to be here.

As you say, I am Professor André, I am an agronomist and I have been studying agricultural crops, their physiology and development for the last 15 years.

My area of research is agronomic techniques aimed at increasing crop productivity in a subtropical environment, associating strategies that favour more efficient and sustainable production.

So sir, you mentioned these techniques for increasing the crop productivity and stability.

I've seen that you have some of your latest works on the subject.

Can you tell us some examples of technologies that you worked on?

Well, me and my team have

been researching some technologies as different plant spatial arrangements in the area to increase

the use of environmental resources by the plant, the use of nanoparticles as career systems for

agricultural products, the impacts of exogenous application of plant hormones and of molecules to

mitigate abiotic stress, and also the use of microorganisms to enhance plant nutrition,

which is our issue for today's podcast.

Before we dive in, I feel that it is important to clarify beforehand some topics that will be addressed.

Firstly, we need to understand that agriculture, as we know today, is the result of thousands of years of adaptation and evolution in all aspects regarding production, including the plants.

But one of the changes that had a larger impact in our current system happened around the 50s.

The so-called green revolution started as an attempt to increase Mexican grain production, backed by the Ministry of Agriculture of Mexico and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Through the development of improved varieties and the use of chemical fertiliser, pesticides, and higher mechanisation, the green revolution started a shift in the increase in efficiency of lands, profitability, and worldwide food supply.

Although the green

revolution had many positive results, it also brought negative consequences, as soil erosion

and compaction, due to the constant revolving and heavy machinery used, biodiversity loss,

with the establishment of the monocrop system using fields of hybrids with no genetic diversity,

loss and contamination of water, as the compressed soil has lower water retention capacity,

and the surface runoff can cause eutrophication of nearby water.

The negative impacts started to appear in the 1990s, when the diminishing returns on the amount of fertiliser applied were starting to show a decline in productivity, but the increasing potential grain yield, with the use of hybrids, made a higher nutrient uptake by the plant, intensifying the dependence on chemical fertilisers to meet the needs of the plant.

Today, the total disdependence it has on carbon emissions and soil health is well known, and the development of more sustainable techniques is essential, such as the work on rhizobacteria improving plant nutrition done by our guest today.

I asked professor André about the importance of microorganisms use on current agricultural practises, and here's what he had to say.

Well Caetano, this is a very important question.

Currently, much research has demonstrated the various benefits of combining agricultural crops with plant growth promoting microorganisms.

Brazil is a case of success in this issue, as it has been using the soybean association with bacterias of the gender Bradyrhizobium for over 30 years to reduce the use of mineral fertilisers.

Furthermore, since the 2000s, several studies have discovered new species of microorganisms that are capable of helping plants in the process of obtaining nutrients, producing plant hormones, and also controlling pests and diseases, such as Azospirillum, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and others.

More recently, we have seen a great increase in the use of these microorganisms in different crops, such as corn, sugar cane, citrus, and others.

Therefore, the association of microorganisms with agricultural crops represents a new era of agriculture, in which solutions are not solved only in chemical products or mineral fertilisers, but by exploring these growth promoting microorganisms, obtaining increased productivity, reduced production costs, and lower environmental impact.

Absolutely, professor, and I think that one of the aspects in which we can see the effects of those technologies is in the number of biological products available for agriculture use in present day.

It is estimated that in Brazil, the biological product market had an early growth rate of up to 21%.

To this extent, professor, how are these technologies helping farmers in a context of increasing production costs and instability on commodity prices?

In agriculture, more important than achieving high productivity is achieving productive stability with cost rationalisation.

Here in Brazil, we have tropical agriculture, obviously very influenced by the climate.

The main practise to promote the stability and sustainability of production is what we call Sistema Plantio Direto, that is a no tillage system, which consists of not disturbing the soil with agricultural implements, permanent soil coverage with straw, and crop diversification.

In this scenario, the inoculation of microorganisms represents an essential tool in the use of Bradyrhizobium and soybeans, but also a promising alternative in the case of other microorganisms and crops, with great potential to increase productivity at low cost.

In general, microorganisms have a low cost for farmers and promote root growth, increasing the use of water and nutrients, providing plant hormones that modulate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and solubilising nutrients, increasing their availability for crops.

For those of our listeners that are not familiar with the use of inoculation agriculture, I would like to do a brief explanation.

The use of this technology is very simple and easy to adopt by all farmers.

The industry develops inoculants from strains and species of microorganisms that have already demonstrated their benefits during research, or apply them directly to the sowing furrow.

During germination and the initial phase of crop development, the bacteria infect the plant roots or establish themselves in the rhizosphere, the narrow region of soil that is directly affected by root secretions, where the microorganisms perform their growth-promoting function.

The main case of use is the genus Bradyrhizobium, which forms a symbiotic relationship with soybeans, infecting its roots and forming nodules, where the bacteria fix nitrogen in gas form, present in the atmosphere and transform it into ammonium, which can be assimilated by plants.

Just the use of inoculation on soybean by itself is responsible for a decrease in around 106 million tonnes of equivalent CO2, due to the non-use of chemical nitrogen sources, in addition to the soybean plant capacity on carbon sequestration.

More recently, research has identified another microorganism with high potential, which is from the genus Azospirillum.

In Brazil, it is already used in corn, sugarcane, wheat, pastures and soybeans.

In this case, the bacteria has a high production of plant hormones, that mainly favour the growth of the root system, which favours the absorption of water and nutrients.

Another group of microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas, are used as nutrient solubilizers, to aid in phosphorus availability on soil.

The increasing use of chemical fertilisers, to address the nutrient availability problems, has significant environmental and economic impact, as the production processes involved are energy intensive and dependent on finite energy sources.

However, the chemical phosphates have greater solubilisation than natural reactive sources, facilitating application done at the same time as seeding, and ensuring availability of phosphorus, especially in short cycle crops, such as maize.

On this behalf, on one of the latest Dr. Sampaio's publications, he approached the use of Pseudomonas in order to improve economic efficiency of soluble and reactive sources of phosphorus, and here is what he had to say about this topic.

Well, look, bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas are part of a large group with the potential to solubilise phosphorus in the soil, that is, they transform phosphorus in the soil from a non-available form, to a form that plants are able to uptake.

Therefore, the use of these microorganisms can promote better use of both the phosphorus present in the soil, and the phosphorus present in the fertiliser.

Furthermore, in this work that you mentioned, we identified the efficiency of Pseudomonas in solubilising phosphorus from natural phosphates, which have low solubility, but have a much smaller carbon footprint, and a lower cost for the farmers.

Other microorganisms, such as Bacillus, Agrobacterium, Azotobacter, Erwinia, and others, have been widely studied by the international community to promote solubilisation and optimise the use of phosphorus in crops.

Well, look at the importance of this technique, since the United Nations Environment Programme has proposed that better use of phosphorus in agriculture is an essential practise in managing the global challenge of phosphorus finiteness.

Yes, professor, that is indeed a very important topic.

We know that phosphorus is one of the main limiting factors for productivity, especially in the soil profile that you have from the centre to the south of Brazil.

Improving techniques on phosphorus use to have a more sustainable source associated with beneficial organisms can have a major impact on phosphorus use.

bBut André, talking about the association of radyrhizobium and soybean, we know that Brazil is a case of success, with close to 70% of farmers using inoculation every year, and 50 years of research in order to improve and classify strains of the bacteria to develop a reliable product for agriculture.

But how do you see the importance of this technology in a global scale, whether by direct application or by inspiring the development of new methods?

I think that the example of soybeans can serve both for applicability in other countries and as know-how for other crops and microorganisms.

Brazil, United States, Argentina, and China are the world's largest soybean producers, and all of them use the association of soybeans with Bradyrhizobium.

However, there is still a need to increase and improve its use.

Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of good practises in inoculation, that is, the use of registered inoculants well stored with a laboratory analysis report and with inoculation carried out on the day of planting.

Furthermore, other soil factors are fundamental in favouring the infection and activity of bacteria, such as pH of the soil, temperature, availability of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus in the soil.

These questions, therefore, serve as a basis for the use of other microorganisms and other cultures in different countries.

So look, it's not just about using microorganisms, but about working on the entire agronomic management of the crop, seeking what we call regenerative agriculture, that is, an approach that seeks to produce food in a sustainable way, restoring and conserving natural resources, and in the case of farmers, his greatest asset is the soil.

Yes, definitely professor, that reminds me of something that my father used to tell me as a kid, that the most important asset for a farmer is the soil, because it's the only thing that he cannot trade and is the thing that takes the longest to be regenerated, so it has to be well taken care of.

In his answer, professor André mentioned regenerative agriculture, but what exactly is that?

It has been described as farming and ranching in synchrony with nature, to repair, rebuild, restore and revitalise ecosystem function, starting with all life in the soil and moving to all life above the soil.

The road followed by conventional agriculture led to the adoption of untenable agriculture practises, with environmental degradation and 30 to 75% of loss on soil organic carbon, impacting directly both on and off farm environment.

To face that, regenerative agriculture follow ecological principles, such as least amount of mechanical or chemical disturbance possible, permanent surface cover, leaving roots on soil and livestock integration.

The adoption of these techniques promotes a more sustainable system, improving soil health, diminishing reliability on chemicals, increasing resilience under adverse climate, and many others.

To this extent, this method does not represent a technological innovation, but a change to intensify the use of techniques that were already adopted by many properties.

Even so, there are still challenges to be faced in order to achieve a change in the whole production system.

When asked about what the main challenges still are, Dr. André responded the following.

Look, Caetano, in Brazil, the entire production chain has been studying techniques that increase the system's resilience, that promote the increase of organic matter in the soil, that prevent erosion, that promote the rational use of pesticides, and that encourage the use of biological products in replacement of mineral fertilisers and chemical pesticides.

These techniques already represent a regenerative agriculture.

Science has been providing consistent information for farmers to increase the sustainability of their production, associating high profitability.

But a great effort is still needed from governments, research, technical assistance, and farmers to intensify the use of all these techniques.

On the present day, we can also see an increase in public demand for products, especially overalimentation, with a lower to no carbon footprint, thus by enhancing the importance of traceability on the production chain.

In Brazil, we have efforts to develop a stamp system to help in that regard, but what other methods can and should be used to increase reliability of the chain of production?

This is a critical point.

We often see society condemning agriculture as being largely responsible for the environmental impact.

So, firstly, I think that it is necessary to raise awareness among the population about how food is produced, demonstrating the positive points and points that still need to be improved.

Based on this knowledge, the consumer population begins to demand from their suppliers that they meet environmental and sustainability issues, increasing the added value of foods that are produced on good agricultural and environmental practises.

Well, I am a teacher, and I believe that education is the main tool for progress.

Therefore, I see that, together with the stamp system, the essential issue is raising awareness, both among the consumer population and producers, for agriculture to move into a new era.

The era of sustainable production, with biological solutions, with the preservation of natural resources, mainly soil, minimising the use of pesticides, increasing the use efficiency of soil nutrients and fertilisers, and mainly making better use of the main resource for the production of food, that is, water.

Yes, definitely, professor.

And I think that you touched a really important point, that is the use of water in agriculture, because we have seen scenarios more and more common with lower water availability.

And not that will even be a lower precipitation throughout the period of production, but larger periods with no rain and concentration of rain in others.

So, we know that all of these practises can also help the soil to retain more water.

So, as you said before, it is a change in the system that will help, not only in a more sustainable, but overall better use of all the resources available for agriculture.

Professor, I'm sure that, if given the opportunity, we could talk about this subject and its implications for a full day, but unfortunately, I'm afraid that we're running out of time.

So, André, if you could summarise all we talked about into one most important thing that our listeners should remember, what would that be?

Well, I would say that this is a very important issue for society, because everyone needs to eat every day.

And agriculture is one of the economic activities most dependent on the environment and extremely affected by climate change.

Therefore, I conclude by saying that, in tropical agriculture, there is no more space for anyone who is not going to produce without a focus on sustainability.

We are already suffering the consequences of climate change, extreme drought and rain events, high temperatures and others.

And sustainable agriculture, which seeks to preserve and regenerate the soils, guarantees greater resilience for the system and better productive performance in face of these climate challenges.

So, in the end, the producer who seeks all these technologies that we have already mentioned, in addition to achieving a lower carbon footprint and greater sustainability, achieves greater production stability, greater productivity and greater profitability.

In other words, sustainability and profitability are closely dependent on each other.

So, André, with this, we finish up our talk for today.

Once again, I want to thank you for your time, for being open for this project and for always being active in scientific dissemination in the community.

The work being done on research, despite all the difficulties to work in that field, is due to people like you and should be more appreciated.

So, please, if you have any final remarks, be my guest.

Well, it's my pleasure.

I thank you for the invitation and the initiative.

I think that this activity model is very efficient in awaking listeners interested in science and in these issues that are so important to our society.

I thank also the Agro Montpellier Institute and also the State University of Londrina, which is where I currently work and allows me to continue learning every day.

Thank you all.