Rootella Carbon

The United States Midwestern and Mid-Southern states are often referred to as the “Corn Belt.” This region produces roughly one-third of the world’s corn and soybeans. What once was a thriving agricultural hub now experiences hardships due to a changing climate, threatening the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and global food security. By 2050, food production will need to increase by 56% compared to 2010 levels to feed a growing population. Meeting this demand will be complicated by environmental stressors, particularly in major food-producing regions like the Corn Belt.

For farms located in the Mississippi River basin, climate change threatens more than crop yields and farmers’ health – it jeopardizes entire farms. Fluctuating river levels result in extreme flooding that destroys fields, followed by low river conditions that stress water supplies. As droughts become more frequent, intensified storms uproot crops, and soil quality decreases, farmers around the world risk losing their livelihoods. With 13.4% of the Midwest’s rural population living below the poverty line, many farmers already rely on off-farm income to afford basic necessities. Without interventions that mitigate climate change, improve soil quality, and strengthen crop resilience to these new challenges, America’s agricultural sector and the world’s food supply will be pushed further toward the brink of collapse.

American farmers increasingly rely on chemical fertilizers to cultivate enough crops to feed their families and stock grocery stores nationwide. These chemicals are expensive and time-consuming to apply, placing additional strain on farmers’ limited resources. They also tend to run off in high quantities, resulting in high algae growth in nearby bodies of water. These algal blooms create “dead zones” by sucking up the dissolved oxygen in aquatic environments and causing health conditions if people or pets drink or recreate in the contaminated water. In addition, the nutrient additives in chemical fertilizers can release greenhouse gasses like nitrous oxide into the atmosphere as they break down in the soil.

While chemical fertilizers provide the nutrients that poor-quality soil needs, they cannot replace symbiotic organisms like mycorrhizal fungi that many crops need to thrive. Mycorrhizae, meaning “fungal root,” refers to the mutually beneficial relationship the fungi form with plants, attaching themselves to root systems. This partnership extends roots’ reach into the soil, allowing plants to absorb more nutrients while also helping the plants anchor themselves and withstand harsh conditions such as drought, increased salinity, or soil acidification. As farmers till their soil, mycorrhizae numbers are depleted, making it harder for plants to survive and farmers to make a living. As soil quality decreases, these carbon-storing clumps break down, releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.