On February 10, Science published online a Letters article titled ‘Soil microplastics pollution in agriculture’ by the research group of Li Zhongfen, a professor from the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering at Wuhan University. The paper shows how soil microplastics are threatening agriculture and human health, and appeals to related stakeholders, including government departments, non-government organizations, scientists, and the field of industry, to take comprehensive actions to alleviate the damage.

He Liuyue, a post-doctoral fellow from the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering at Wuhan University, is the first author, and Xu Zhenci, a professor from the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong, is the corresponding author. The signatory unit is the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering of Wuhan University. The article was published as the cover article of Letters of the same issue.

According to the article, the demand for agricultural plastics is expected to increase by 50% by 2030. The microplastics produced when agricultural plastics break down will enter the human body through the food chain and water circulation. Microplastics are already found in human intestines, lungs, blood, brains, and breast milk. These exterior substances will cause rejections and inflammation of human tissues, severely harming agricultural production and human health. The article calls for actions, including quantifying the amount of microplastics in global farmland soils (such as using satellite remote sensing), limiting the maximum amount of agricultural plastics used, encouraging the use of biodegradable plastics, and passing regulatory legislation, in order to provide solutions to soil microplastics pollution and problems with sustainable agricultural production.

Li Zhongfen, a high-level talent introduced by the School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering in 2021, and his research group have conducted long-term research on remote sensing, ecology, the water-energy-food-forest-carbon bond, climate change and its impacts, and sustainable development.

Link to the paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf6098

Rewritten by Jiang Hanjun

Edited by Xie Anqing, Sylvia, Xi Bingqing