Nanostimulants and nanofertilizers for precision agriculture: transforming food production in the 21st century

Abstract

The risk of long-term global food insecurity is being exacerbated by climate change, as well as by a range of other socio-economic and political factors. Conventional agriculture has been heavily dependent on agrochemical use for decades, and although this has increased food production in a way that has benefited billions of citizens, the subsequent damage to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems has been significant. This is in part due to agrochemical delivery and use efficiency levels that are often 30% or less, leading to over-application to achieve acceptable yield but that results in a significant negative environmental footprint of agriculture. Recent advances in agrochemical delivery have sought to mimic nanodrug delivery systems in health, where materials design and delivery is engineered to be efficient, precise and safe. Consequently, a number of agrochemical delivery strategies have been described in the literature, offering equivalent or enhanced efficacy with reduced environmental impact. Several recent studies have extended this work to targeting specific biotic and abiotic plant stresses, with the goal of developing more sophisticated nanostimulants and nanofertilizers that promote overall climate resilience in agriculture. This paper will review and analyze the vast potential of these agrochemical delivery systems, including an assessment of future directions that could validate the widespread application of nano-enabled agriculture as a critical tool in combatting global food insecurity in a changing climate.