January 2023 issue

Volume 68, Issue 1

Plastics have been so ubiquitous in our lives for so long that it's hard to imagine our world without them. In agriculture, they are so widespread and invaluable that the term plasticulture was coined to describe them. But as we produce hundreds of millions of tons of plastic products every year, they are piling up all around us, albeit in often unrecognizable or invisible forms. Although more conspicuous ocean plastics raised louder alarms initially, the pollution beneath our feet and among our crops has drawn the scrutiny of more and more soil scientists. In this issue, we hear from some of the researchers examining how plastics impact soils and crops as they degrade from plastic mulch, masks, and latte cups into new and smaller forms. See story on p. 4.

Cover photo: Plastic mulch on a strawberry crop with the inset, from a separate study, showing macroplastics extracted from 50 grams of compost. Backdrop photo by Sean Schaeffer. Inset photo by Anahita Khosravi.