Can the global drone revolution make agriculture more sustainable? Rapid growth in drone use is upending expectations but also inducing trade-offs.

Belton, B., Baldiga, L., Justice, S., Minten, B., Narayanan, S., & Reardon, T. Science. 4 September, 2025. Pages 972-976.

Cornell Conservation Agriculture Group (soilhealth.org)'s insight:

This interesting paper from Science promotes the future use of drones and the paper says that uses of drones in agriculture has taken off globally in the past 5 years. This rapid change has been largely unnoticed by researchers outside of the specialized technical worlds of aeronautical engineering and precision agriculture. This paper explores the diffusion and implications of drones for agriculture and implications for sustainability. It also proposes an agenda for future agricultural science and policy.

Tillage and residue management modulate the links between soil physical signatures and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal biomarkers.

Thomopoulos, S., Munkholm, L.J., Elsgaard, L. & Ravnskov, S. 2025. Geoderma. 454. Article 117204.

Cornell Conservation Agriculture Group (soilhealth.org)'s insight:

This paper reports on the long-term effects of different tillage practices and crop residue management on soil biological and physical health using winter wheat and a fodder radish cover crop. The experiment started in 2003 and samples taken in 2021. There were three tillage treatments: direct sowing (NT), harrowing to 10 cm H), and moldboard plowing to 20 cm (MP). Residue was either removed or left in the plots. The biological soil measures were two fatty-acid biomarkers arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF)and glomalin-related soil protein (EE). Soil physical indices were water stable aggregates (WSA) and five soil pore characters and SOC. CA practices increased AMF biomass and harrowing and NT resulted in stratified SOC. Residue increased SOC levels. They conclude that their study identified the significant role of AMF in maintaining soil health.

Mapping the conceptual and intellectual structure of soil health research (1996–2021): a terms co-occurrence and co-cited reference network analysis

Sellami, M.H., Mori, M. & Terribile, F. 2025. Frontiers in Soil Science. 5. Article 1549290.

Cornell Conservation Agriculture Group (soilhealth.org)'s insight:

This paper utilized bibliometric analyses to map the conceptual and intellectual structure of soil health research from 1996-2021. They reviewed 984 peer reviewed papers that they divided into 3 major research clusters. The analysis revealed critical gaps, including limited integration of pedological modeling to quantify ecosystem services and insufficient long-term studies on conservation agriculture. They recommend that interdisciplinary collaboration among agronomists, microbiologists, policymakers, and climate scientists to align soil health metrics with global targets providing a roadmap to integrate soil health into climate-smart land-use policies.

Suggestions for promoting SOC storage within the carbon farming framework: Analyzing the INFOSOLO database.

Cunha, C., Castanheira, N.L., Ramos, T.B., Martinho, V.J.P.D., Ferraira, A.J.D., da Silva, J.L. & Sanchez-Carreira, M. del C. 2025. Open Agriculture. 10. Article 0344.

Cornell Conservation Agriculture Group (soilhealth.org)'s insight:

This paper starts by saying challenges from climate change require new eco-friendly systems to make farming economic with social dimensions compatible with the environment plus ecosystem resilience. They suggest that CA can help by increasing C-sequestration in soils and plants. This research looks into the benefits of improved SOC when using CA in Portugal from the INFOSOLO legacy database was analyzed through statistical methodologies and machine-learning approaches.

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