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Abstract Sustainable agricultural water systems are critical to ensure prosperous agricultural production, secure water resources, and support healthy ecosystems that sustain livelihoods and well-being. Many growing regions are using water unsustainably, leading to groundwater and streamflow depletion and polluted water bodies. Often, this is driven by global consumer demands, with environmental and social impacts occurring in regions far from where the crop is ultimately consumed. This letter defines sustainable agricultural water limits, both for quantity and quality, tying them to the impacts of agricultural water use, such as impacts on ecosystems, economies, human health, and other farmers. Imposing these limits will have a range of both positive and negative impacts on agricultural production, food prices, ecosystems, and health. Pathways forward exist and are proposed based on existing studies, showing the gains that can be made from the farm to global scale to ensure sustainable water systems while sustaining agricultural production.
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Environmental impacts of genetically modified crops
Genetically modified (GM) crops have been adopted by some of the world’s leading agricultural nations, but the full extent of their environmental impact remains largely unknown. Although concerns regarding the direct environmental effects of GM crops have declined, GM crops have led to indirect changes in agricultural practices, including pesticide use, agricultural expansion, and cropping patterns, with profound environmental implications. Recent studies paint a nuanced picture of these environmental impacts, with mixed effects of GM crop adoption on biodiversity, deforestation, and human health that vary with the GM trait and geographic scale. New GM or gene-edited crops with different traits would likely have different environmental and human health impacts.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2042526
- PAR ID:
- 10589968
- Publisher / Repository:
- AAAS
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science
- Volume:
- 385
- Issue:
- 6712
- ISSN:
- 0036-8075
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ado9340
