Advances in Agronanotechnology and Future Prospects

Abstract

Nanotechnology provides an excellent resource to address the many technical issues faced by the agricultural industry. Current traditional and nontraditional farming techniques are not able to herald in changes that are able to increase productivity and address the issue of chemical contamination of the ecosystem and our water supply; as a consequence of our farming practices, a technological revolutionalization is needed to address all these current-day farming woes. While the infiltration of nanotechnology into nanoproducts such as cellphone has been easily accepted, the application of nanoparticles in agriculture, however, raises several questions and reservations as the effect of this material has to be tested at the geosphere level and the technology has to be one that can be adopted across different economies and development status. In this chapter, we review the various ways where nanoparticles may be used in field application of the agricultural industry. Nanoparticles have been used to improve nutrient acquisition, soil condition, increase yield and growth, pests and disease control, understanding mechanisms of host-parasite interactions, bioremediation of soil and water, and precision farming. While nanotechnology has the potential to address twenty-first century issues, their adoption into the industry will require further research to determine safety and effect to environment and human. Parallel to these studies, there also needs to be awareness building among the agriculturists on the potential of this technology. Failure to influence the public and to embrace this technology will only deny us the opportunity to visibly improve food production, safety, and security.