Agricultural Land Management

Agricultural land management encompasses the suite of practices by which soil resources are stewarded to sustain crop productivity, preserve ecosystem services and safeguard environmental quality. Globally, managers confront the twin challenges of intensifying production to meet rising food demands and reversing degradation linked to soil acidification, nutrient imbalance, organic-matter loss and compaction. Core strategies include precision application of amendments (for example liming to ameliorate acidity and supply base cations), integrated fertiliser regimes that combine inorganic and organic inputs, conservation tillage to protect soil structure and residue management to enhance carbon sequestration. Recent advances have refined amendment recommendations according to soil type and crop rotation, employed novel mineral soil conditioners that deliver calcium, magnesium and silicon, and adapted liming approaches for humic and high-organic-matter soils. Effective land management also integrates monitoring of soil pH, cation exchange capacity and nutrient availability alongside ecological approaches—such as cover cropping and agroforestry—to build resilience against climatic variability and support long-term soil health.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Studies have mapped the distribution of magnesium-rich carbonate rocks and assessed their potential in grassland liming, demonstrating that regional differences in Mg:Ca ratios and quarry locations can guide the targeted application of high-Mg liming materials to correct both pH and magnesium deficiencies. Mineral soil conditioners produced by sintering feldspar, limestone and dolomite have been characterised for their acid-neutralising equivalent of CaCO₃ and their ability to release alkali and alkaline-earth cations. Comparative trials using standard buffer methods across diverse acid soils have established crop-specific application rates, informing local recommendations for 1–8 t ha⁻¹ of conditioner depending on starting pH. Foundational laboratory incubations in humic soils reveal that quicklime additions reduce Al saturation, elevate extractable phosphorus pools and prolong ammonium and nitrate availability, underscoring liming’s role in improving nutrient supply in highly weathered contexts.

Agricultural Land Management publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in agricultural land management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Soil acidification: The progressive decline in soil pH caused by accumulation of H⁺ and Al³⁺ ions, often stemming from ammonium fertilisers, elemental sulphur and acid deposition.

Liming: The application of calcium-rich materials (for example CaCO₃, CaO, gypsum) to neutralise acidity, replenish base cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺) and mitigate aluminium toxicity.

Mineral soil conditioner: Alkaline, siliceous materials produced from feldspar, limestone or dolomite that supply multiple base cations and silicon to neutralise soil acidity.

Humic soils: Highly weathered, organic-matter-rich soils typical of tropical regions, prone to strong acidity and cation depletion.

Phosphorus use efficiency (PUE): The ratio of crop yield to phosphorus applied, reflecting how effectively applied P is taken up and converted into harvestable biomass.

Cation exchange capacity (CEC): The total capacity of a soil to hold and exchange positively charged nutrient ions on clay and organic-matter surfaces.

Acid saturation: The proportion of exchange sites occupied by aluminium relative to total exchangeable sites, indicating the degree of toxicity risk to roots.

References

1. A spatial analysis of lime resources and their potential for improving soil magnesium concentrations and pH in grassland areas of England and Wales. Scientific Reports (2021).
2. Mineral soil conditioner requirement and ability to adjust soil acidity. Scientific Reports (2020).
3. Effects of lime application on nitrogen and phosphorus availability in humic soils. Scientific Reports (2020).
4. Yield responses of arable crops to liming – An evaluation of relationships between yields and soil pH from a long-term liming experiment. European Journal of Agronomy (2019).
5. Modulation of the soil microbiome by long-term Ca-based soil amendments boosts soil organic carbon and physicochemical quality in a tropical no-till crop rotation system. Soil Biology and Biochemistry (2021).
6. The effects of pH on nutrient availability depend on both soils and plants. Plant and Soil (2023).