Soil salinity and the salinity of irrigation water are a serious limitation of global crop production since most crops are sensitive to salinity. Typical yields of major crops are 20-50% of yields from ideal situations, with salinity and drought the primary adversities. The pressure on Agriculture to produce more food and fiber from marginal soils and with diminishing amounts of water available to produce these crops is significant. This is forcing an even greater focus to reduce salinity’s impacts to agricultural production as a key to feeding a growing world.  Salt mitigation has long been practiced by farmers. Tolerant varieties, tillage systems, irrigation methodologies, leaching aids, salt mitigating chemical products, as well as biologically based solutions are all part of the past, present and future. With a focus on the southwestern US, where estimates are that half the irrigated farm land suffers from production losses due to salinity, an overview of the technologies used in the past and currently will be made, as a preface to a discussion on newer chemistries and technologies to mitigate the problems in the future.

Salt mitigation in irrigated crops: Reducing negative impacts past, present and possibilities for the future

2019 Fall National Meeting

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