Soil quality key for future food security, better data is vital

Future food security depends on a variety of factors - but better soil data could substantially help improve projections of future crop yields, a new study shows.

To project how much food can be produced in the future, researchers use agricultural models that estimate crop yield, or how much of a crop can be produced in a certain amount of space. These models take into account factors like climate and weather variability, irrigation, fertilizer, and soil type. A new study published in the journal Nature Communications shows that the type of soil used in such a model can often outweigh the effects of weather variability - such as year to year changes in rainfall and temperature.

See more: ec.europa.eu/jrc