Analyzing the impact of Globalization on soil fertility and nutrient cycling: A review

This review discusses the severe effects of globalization on soil fertility and nutrient cycling in the entire world. It also examines how the influx of trade, changes in technology, and integration in the market have affected agricultural approaches, where a lot of times nutrient imbalances are produced and soil deterioration amidst pollution of the environment occurs. This review finds that globalization has produced two imbalanced outcomes for the soil system. Globalization provides access to additional fertilizer, advanced technologies, and international markets, which can lead to enhanced productivity but has also been responsible for accelerated degradation of soil due to nutrient imbalances, erosion of soil, pollution of soils, and disruption of ecosystem functions, particularly in export-oriented and intensively managed agriculturally focused growing systems. The contribution of this review is the first comprehensive synthesis of the interrelationships among global agricultural trade, fertilizer flows, land use change, and soil nutrient redistribution within a single analytical framework. Rather than addressing these issues separately as prior studies have done, this review illustrates how global supply chains spatially redistribute soil nutrients, resulting in long-term consequences of surplus and deficit soil across regions, impacting the health and sustainable use of soil resources within ecosystems. This review finds that conservation agriculture, organic farming, precision nutrient management, and their circular use are the primary pathways to mitigate or reverse global soil degradation caused by globalization. The role of monitoring technologies and policies that facilitate the global integration of economies and sustainable soil management. The review adds an integrated framework for achieving sustainable agricultural productivity and environmental quality over the long term through managing soil fertility in a globalized environment.