The research priorities of the UC San Diego Soil Health Center are centered around ecosystem and human health. All people deserve access to healthy, safe, and abundant food and water. In the Soil Health Center, we are committed to developing and deploying solutions to support longevity of food and water resources while mitigating climate change and centering and supporting farmers.
Key research themes include:
Microbial interventions for food security and carbon removal
Soil microorganisms play crucial roles in agriculture, such as enhancing nutrient and water availability and producing plant growth promoting compounds. As soils are being degraded worldwide, regulations for synthetic fertilizer use are tightening, and the global demand for food is increasing, there is an urgent need for solutions to build soil health and support food security. Our team is working to develop and test probiotics to improve soil quality at an accelerated rate while fostering sustainable crop production and adaptation to climate change. At the same time, we are building and iterating on models to improve predictions of when, where, and how these probiotics work effectively, across scales.
Plant genetics and plant-microbe interactions
There is great opportunity in understanding how plant root exudates mediate interactions with soil microbes surrounding plant roots (‘the rhizosphere’) that in-turn drive high plant productivity and yield even under common suboptimal growth conditions such as nitrogen deficiency and drought. Our team is working to understand the mechanistic interactions between plant roots, rhizosphere microorganisms, and surrounding soil microbial communities to build this understanding and work toward multi-kingdom solutions to problems facing farmers and land managers today.
Interplay between climate, food systems, economics, and policy
Nearly everywhere in the world, agricultural soils are the largest land areas that humans already manage and enormous contributors to the economy. With the right approaches, these soils could be managed specifically to improve soil health and crop yields, build resilience to droughts, and enhance carbon retention. Our team studies the interplay between climate and our food system, including climate impacts on food (for example hydrology and soil impacts) and food impacts on climate (including emissions from agricultural systems and from production of agricultural inputs). We are quantifying soil moisture-governed relationships between climate, vegetation, and water supplies. We are also leaders in developing and improving systems for accurate monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon removal in soils.
Social science and ethics
As we discuss the future of new technologies, it is crucial to consider the perspectives of community members likely to implement these technologies, including farmers, ranchers, and land managers. We work with plant breeders, farmers, and industry partners to understand perspectives on the potentials of new technologies in building soil health, plant productivity, and climate resilience, and to co-design mutually beneficial partnerships. We also include outreach and education activities, working toward building passion for science and soil health in future generations and building pathways for workforce development.