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The first thing Brazilian astrobiologist Rebeca Goncalves remembers learning as a child was the order of the planets. Her uncle, an astrophysicist, also taught her about the constellations that dot the night sky over São Paulo. “I’ve loved space since I was a little girl,” she says.
That led to a career in space agriculture, figuring out how to grow food on other planets. She later described her time living among the Kambeva people as She is from an indigenous group that lives in the Amazon rainforest.She wants to protect this world too, believing that more is needed than just exploring distant worlds.
“This is a very important topic in the world of space agriculture science,” Gonsalves said, noting that “all of the research we do has to have a direct benefit to Earth.”
That ideal makes her latest research particularly timely. She and her team at the Wageningen University Center for Crop Systems Analysis and Research The ancient Mayan agricultural method called intercropping It works surprisingly well in the dry, rocky terrain of Mars.
Their findings were: Published last month The paper, published in PLOS One, has obvious implications for the exploration and possible colonization of that distant planet, but understanding how to grow crops in the extremely harsh conditions of other planets goes beyond helping colonists become self-sufficient: it can help Earth residents continue to do the same as the planet warms.
“People really don’t realize [this]”It may seem far-fetched, but our priority is, in fact, to develop this for the Earth,” Gonsalves said. “The Earth is beautiful, unique, rare and fragile, and it needs our help.”
Intercropping, or growing different crops close to each other, Size and nutritional value The yield is Land and water are shrinking than Monocultureor the practice of planting one thing continuously, especially among small farmers. Intercropping remains in Latin America, Africa and China This is something that is new in many parts of the world, due to the complexities of managing such a system and Unfounded fears about yield losses and susceptibility to pestsModern plant breeding programs also tend to focus on individual species. General trends We are moving towards less diversity in the field.
According to Goncalves, this is a missed opportunity. Evidence shows that intercropping: Climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices It affects crop yields on degraded soils, Accounts for 40 percent It accounts for half of the world’s agricultural land. “The potential for intercropping is very high in solving some of the climate change problems,” she said.
That’s why she decided to deploy it on Mars, where the regolith (the name for soil on other planets) contains no nutrients or life. Does not resemble Heavy Degraded soil In a university greenhouse, the researchers added small amounts of nutrients and soil to a mock-up of the loose material that covers the planet’s bedrock, and then planted different varieties of tomatoes, carrots, and peas.
They found that while the intercropping doubled tomato yields and caused plants to grow faster and with thicker stems than the monoculture, carrots and peas fared better when grown alone (likely due to the researchers adding less nutrients to the coarse regolith). In contrast, the control intercropping in sandy soil Found in many parts of the world — Tomato and pea yields have increased significantly.
While the results may seem mixed, what’s remarkable is that the team was able to grow anything in the simulated regolith, which is essentially “polished stone,” as Gonsalves points out.
Of course, agricultural conditions MarsThe land is extremely cold, dry and almost oxygen-free, far harsher than the climate on Earth being caused by climate change. Chronic drought And with the long-term shift to drier climates, Further depletion of water resources.
But the soil that covers the Red Planet bears a striking resemblance to sandy soils that have been severely affected by climate change. Arid and semi-arid areas In the world, Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern China and Southern South America — In recent years, water shortages and erratic rainfall patterns have led to crop failures and reduced yields in grain-producing areas.
What the experiment demonstrates, say the authors, is that it could be an unexplored solution to revitalize depleted agricultural land while addressing agriculture’s broader land-use problem. Previous studies have shown that, on average, intercropping two crops requires 19 percent They require less land to grow than if each crop were grown separately.
“Let’s say a village in Africa is suffering from soil degradation. The farmers are suffering, the community is suffering. If we have the equipment that we’ve built for a Mars colony, it’s exactly the same as a small village in Africa, because we can bring the same technology there,” Gonsalves says. “The possibilities for how we can almost replicate and apply this Mars colony system to communities on Earth are really limitless.”
But how applicable are such solutions in some parts of the world? Where it’s needed mostThe short answer is, it’s complicated.
2024 paper In a study exploring the challenges of applying technologies developed for space research across the Global South, the case studies of Guyana, Tanzania, Nepal and Vietnam found that discourses, structures and relations resulting from historical colonial structures continue to result in power inequalities and the exclusion of historically marginalised groups. India’s “Green Revolution” As the country adopted modern industrialized methods of agriculture, Unintended agricultural and health impacts for smallholder farmers.
Gonsalves’ research is part of a rapidly growing body of research in space agriculture. Billions of dollars Strong investment and interest from governments, policy makers and the private sector.
Just two years ago, a team from the University of Florida Published a groundbreaking paper That same year, scientists at Iowa State University revealed how thalecress grew in lunar regolith collected during the Apollo era. Turnips, radishes, and lettuce were grown in soil that mimicked Martian regolith.meanwhile Other national studies have examined challenges in developing research experiments. Including crops The wheat sprouted Research into replicating lunar and Martian soils. These space-oriented studies demonstrate the growing momentum in the field of harnessing space power. Our collective obsession with other worldsWhile skillfully searching for solutions to global crises Too politicized and alienating.
Gonsalves’s work offers a “fascinating” look at how traditional farming methods could be used on Mars, but it may not be “the most logical approach” for the red planet, Giacomelli said. HydroponicsThe cultivation protocol is “the only way” to safely begin food production on other planets, said Dr. Schneider, founding director of the Center for Controlled Environment Agriculture at the University of Arizona, where he has spent more than 20 years developing greenhouses for use on the red planet.
Still, Giacomelli agrees that intercropping could be beneficial in Earth’s eroded soils, and the idea is intriguing to Thomas Graham, an associate professor at the University of Guelph who has been studying space agriculture since 1997, and who thinks Gonsalves’ work highlights “the importance of good soil for a stable food supply, not only on Earth, where soils are under considerable pressure, but also in future space applications.”
He was involved in the project early in his career. Funded by NASA Building a small greenhouse in the tundra of the Canadian ArcticMars-like sites” is known for its harsh environments, where he witnessed the “horrible food insecurity issues” faced by people living in remote communities in Canada’s far north. “It’s extremely hard to get fresh food there, if you can get it at all,” he said, “and it’s horribly expensive.” This prompted him to explore technological solutions to the challenges of growing crops in the harshest of environments: space.
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to support space exploration while helping people put food on the table,” Graham said, “and also doing my part to help society adapt to the disruptions we’ve caused by climate change.”
Solutions such as greenhouses developed for colonizing other planets could be deployed in drought-stricken areas on Earth the “day after” they are conceived, Graham said.
Of course, making this happen in a way that benefits those who need it most will depend on the right combination of funding, political will, and comprehensive adoption. Without that momentum, widespread application of these kinds of agricultural techniques may remain as remote as our future ability to feed people in space.
This article was originally published on Grist in https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/why-a-new-method-of-growing-food-on-mars-matters-more-on-earth/.
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