The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that it is partnering with Anglo American, and in particular the latter’s Crop Nutrients business, to undertake research intended to counter soil salinisation. Or, in other words, to prevent the salt content of soil increasing, to halt it where it is occurring, and to reverse it. This research will make use of nuclear science and technologies.

“To tackle global hunger and increase food security, we need science, we need innovation, and we need to make the most of all available tools, including nuclear techniques,” highlighted IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi. “We also need everybody engaged, especially the private sector. This partnership with Anglo American will help us to maximise impact and scale up interventions.”

This IAEA-Anglo American partnership falls under the Atoms4Food initiative. This, in turn, is a partnership between the IAEA and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), both of which are specialised agencies of the UN. Anglo American accompanied its signature of the partnership with the IAEA by making a “significant” financial donation.

“Our research partnership with the IAEA is a perfect example of our purpose in action – we are re-imaging mining to improve people’s lives,” explained Anglo American Crop Nutrients CEO Tom McCulley. “It is abundantly clear that, as a society, we need to change the way we grow food around the world – moving away from legacy inputs into more sustainable farming practices.”

Soil salinisation could be caused by climate change, sea water intrusion, changes in land use, and poor farming practices. Currently, it is estimated that 932-million hectares of soils are affected by salt, worldwide.

The IAEA-Anglo American research partnership has a period of five years. One of its main projects will be to determine and compare the effectiveness of using polyhalite mineral and other commercially available soil additives, regarding the reclamation of salinised soils, as well as increasing crop productivity and quality, under changing climatic conditions, and improving the understanding of nutrient release and dynamics.

Polyhalite is a naturally occurring mineral that contains the soil nutrients potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium. The research project will use isotopic techniques to follow the dissolution and movement of these and other nutrients in soils.

“Polyhalite has a major role to play, and we are currently developing a mine [the Woodsmith project] in the UK to access the world’s largest known deposit,” affirmed McCulley. “Soil degradation and salinity is an enormous and underappreciated problem, and I congratulate the FAO and the IAEA for their leadership on this critical issue, and we look forward to making a real difference through our collaboration.”

“Through this partnership, we are leveraging nuclear science and its applications to research and improve agricultural practices, which could ultimately have a significant impact on crop productivity and food security,” pointed out Grossi.