Impacts of sand and dust storms on food production

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are common in the world’s drylands, regions that are also critically important for global food production. Agriculture is the most prevalent land use resulting in anthropogenic SDS sources, resulting in impacts on cropland and rangeland, but food production is also affected by impacts from natural SDS sources. This review assesses our knowledge of SDS impacts on all the major types of food production in terrestrial and oceanic environments, impacts that occur in all three phases of the wind erosion system: during particle entrainment, during transport, and on deposition. These effects are short term and long term, direct and indirect. Wind erosion is a major cause of land degradation and there is good evidence to indicate that the deleterious effects of SDS can reduce food production via substantially diminished yields of crops, pastures and livestock. However, it is also clear that soil dust plays an important role in major biogeochemical cycles – especially phosphorus, nitrogen and iron – with implications for the valuable environmental services provided by numerous ecosystems, both terrestrial and marine. Ultimately, these nutrients have particular significance for soil formation, ecosystem productivity and food webs on land and at sea, and hence the provision of food for human societies. Efforts to mitigate the negative impacts of SDS on the sustainability of agriculture should be balanced with an appreciation of the significance of soil dust to the Earth system.