This summary was prepared by Hamed Kioumarsi, EBM at Springer Nature, in collaboration with Bahareh Rafiei (Plant Protection Research Department, Gilan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Rasht, Iran) and Farshad Ganji (İstanbul Aydın University, Türkiye)
Citation: Kioumarsi, H., Rafiei, B., & Ganji, F. (2026). Can Agriculture Feed the World and Reach Net Zero at the Same Time? Research Communities by Springer Nature. https://go.nature.com/4pWphvE
Agriculture has always been under a tough task of providing sufficient food for humankind while protecting the natural processes that are required for agriculture. Now, the task has become much tougher. In addition to increasing food production, the farmers have to assist in meeting the aim of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions set worldwide. Thus, there is a question to be answered – can agriculture sustain the growing population while getting closer to net-zero?
The problem is quite complicated due to the specific position of agriculture in climate discussion. On one hand, agriculture is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, agriculture is one of the industries which suffer the most from climate change. Warmer climate, long-term droughts, floods, and other unusual weather phenomena negatively influence crops and livestock in many regions of the world.
The food security and climate dilemma
Food consumption demands are anticipated to increase consistently during the upcoming decades. Increased population, urbanization, and shifting eating habits necessitate increased production despite the limited availability of lands and water supplies. Traditionally, increased production has usually resulted in increased emissions through the application of fertilizers, livestock farming, mechanization, and converting forests and pastures into farmlands.
There lies an inherent paradox. Reducing production to decrease the emissions could jeopardize food security, especially in areas where food scarcity and malnutrition are still a problem. However, producing more and keeping agricultural practices the same will make the goal of meeting climate targets more challenging. It is the matter of being able to produce more and emit less.
Why agricultural emissions are difficult to reduce
A considerable amount of emissions from the agricultural sector come from methane from ruminant livestock including cattle, sheep, and goats. The raising of livestock is an important element of the agriculture system that provides food, money, and jobs; however, methane emissions represent an important climate problem.
The emissions of nitrous oxide due to nitrogen fertilizers are a serious problem as well. Nitrogen fertilizers play an important role in agriculture; however, inefficient use leads to large greenhouse gas emissions. Nitrous oxide has a relatively high global warming potential, therefore, fertilizer use should be optimized for net-zero targets.
The economic difficulties are another factor that makes the process complicated. Not all farmers, particularly small farmers, have enough financial capacity to apply new technology, renewable energy sources, precision agriculture equipment, or better practices of soil management. Therefore, climate-smart agriculture should be realistic and cost-effective.
Agriculture as part of the climate solution
Whereas in many other industries, the potential lies not only in cutting down emissions but also in pulling CO2 out of the air, agriculture has that capability. It’s possible for healthy soils to absorb a significant amount of organic carbon and thus become a major carbon sink.
Soil improvement techniques such as cover cropping, crop rotation, minimum tillage, composting, and agroforestry can both improve the quality of the soil and increase its capacity for storing carbon. These methods have added benefits, like increased water absorption, improved biodiversity, and more tolerance to drought and extreme weather.
Regenerative agriculture, which aims at restoring soil ecosystems, has received more and more attention recently. Although the amount of carbon that can be stored varies from climate to climate and type of agriculture, improving soil management is viewed by experts as one of the best opportunities in climate mitigation.
The role of innovation
The advancement in technology has presented many ways to decrease agricultural emissions. For example, precision agriculture helps farmers make efficient use of their fertilizer, water, and pesticides through increased accuracy. Through technology, digitalization, satellite monitoring, sensors, and artificial intelligence may assist in managing farms without any reduction in productivity.
Renewable energy is yet another aspect of this transformation. For instance, the use of solar energy in irrigation, biogas produced from animal waste, and energy-efficient farms can be used to cut back on the dependency on fossils and thereby decrease emissions.
The innovation aspect of livestock production is yet another way of reducing the intensity of agricultural emissions. The improvement of animal nutrition, methane reducing additives in feed, breeding strategies, and improved manure management can greatly decrease emissions intensity.
Beyond the farm
Attaining net-zero agriculture is more than implementing new practices on farms. There is need for the government to adopt favorable policies to support sustainable agriculture, allocate resources to agricultural research and extension programs, and offer incentives for emissions reduction and carbon sequestration.
The consumer is another player in this process. Currently, the world has a big issue of food wastage, and by cutting wastage in the entire food supply chain, there will be no need for additional agricultural production. Another way of promoting climate-smart farming is through demand for sustainably produced food.
A realistic pathway
The response to the key question is affirmative—provided there is complete reformation of agricultural systems. No particular technology or agricultural technique will be able to achieve net-zero agriculture. The path to success will entail better management of soil, livestock, precision farming, use of renewable energy, restoring ecosystems, and sound policies.
Of critical importance, this reformation should not be seen as a trade-off between food production and climate change mitigation. In many instances, sustainable agricultural techniques boost productivity, increase resilience, and lessen production risk. Farmers who maintain their soils, water, and biodiversity are better positioned to cope with the effects of climate change.
Conclusion
Is it possible for agriculture to feed the world and achieve net zero at the same time? This is definitely possible, but agriculture has to change from its traditional way of doing business. The future of agriculture will depend on how efficient we become; how we cut our emissions of methane and nitrous oxides; how we reverse landscape degradation; and how we treat the soil of agriculture as a carbon sink.
Net zero in agriculture is definitely not an illusion, but neither is it inevitable. For net zero to be achieved, we need cooperation between farmers, researchers, governments, industry, and consumers. The task is daunting, but what makes agriculture unique among all industries is its potential to produce food while restoring the climate system that produces food.
References
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