Significance: The world has been struggling to find sustainable ways to increase crop production to satisfy the needs for food, feed, fiber, and industrial uses while reducing negative environmental impacts. This challenge is magnified in countries/regions where the availability of farmable land for agriculture is limited. We developed an integrated cropping system that incorporates key farming tactics. Tested in 16 field experiments over 12 consecutive years (2006 to 2017), the integrated system increased crop yields while decreasing the environmental footprint. The integration enables significant synergies in biophysical processes to occur under a wide range of crop inputs, suggesting that system integration can be adopted globally for a range of smallholder farming.

Nearly 90% of the 390 million ha of grasslands in northern China are degraded. ‘Grazing exclusion’ has been implemented as a nature‐based solution to rejuvenate degraded grasslands, but the effectiveness of the rejuvenation processes is uncertain. Here, we investigated the effects of grazing exclusion on aboveground plant community traits, soil physiochemical and biological properties, and the mechanisms responsible for enhanced grassland rejuvenation. A meta‐analysis across various studies was used to assess the effectiveness. On average, grazing exclusion improved vegetation coverage by 18.5 percentage points and increased aboveground biomass by 1.13 t ha⁻¹ and root biomass by 1.27 t ha⁻¹, which represent an increase of 84%, 246%, and 31%, respectively, compared with continuous grazing practices. Grazing exclusion reduced soil bulk density by 13.7% and increased soil water content by 68.9%. Grasslands under grazing exclusion increased soil organic carbon (SOC) in the 0‐ to 15‐cm depth by 3.95 (±0.35 Std err) t ha⁻¹ and total soil N, available N, and total soil P in the 0‐ to 40‐cm depth by 2.39 (±0.14), 0.83 (±0.37), and 1.96 (±0.44) t ha⁻¹, respectively, compared with continuous grazing; these values represent an increase of 31%, 25%, 23%, and 14%, respectively. Prolonging the duration (years) of grazing practices enlarged the differences in SOC and soil N content between grazing exclusion and continuous grazing. Grazing exclusion has improved plant community traits and enhanced soil physiochemical and biological properties of degraded grasslands, and thus, this ‘nature‐based’ approach can serve as an effective means to rejuvenate degraded grasslands.

Grasslands play an important role in conserving natural biodiversity and providing ecosystem functions and services for societies. Soil fertility is an important property in grassland, and the monitoring of soil fertility can provide crucial information to optimize ecosystem productivity and sustainability. Testing various soil physiochemical properties related to fertility usually relies on traditional measures, such as destructive sampling, pre-test treatments, labor-intensive procedures, and costly laboratory measurements, which are often difficult to perform. However, soil enzyme activity reflecting the intensity of soil biochemical reactions is a reliable indicator of soil properties and thus enzyme assays could be an efficient alternative to evaluate soil fertility. Here, we review the latest research on the features and functions of enzymes catalyzing the biochemical processes that convert organic materials to available plant nutrients, increase soil carbon and nutrient cycling, and enhance microbial activities to improve soil fertility. We focus on the complex relationships among soil enzyme activities and functions, microbial biomass, physiochemical properties, and soil/crop management practices. We highlight the biochemistry of enzymes and the rationale for using enzyme activities to indicate soil fertility. Finally, we discuss the limits and disadvantages of the potential new molecular tool and provide suggestions to improve the reliability and feasibility of the proposed alternative.

Survival of plants in response to salinity stress is typically related to Na+ toxicity, but little is known about how heterologous high-affinity potassium transporter (HKT) may help alleviate salt-induced damages in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). In this study, we used the Arabidopsis thaliana high-affinity potassium transporter gene (AtHKT1) to enhance the capacity of potato plants to tolerate salinity stress by decreasing Na+ content and improving K+/Na+ ratio in plant leaves, while maintaining osmotic balance. Seven AtHKT1 transformed potato lines (namely T1, T2, T3, T5, T11, T13 and T15) were compared with non-transgenic control plant at molecule and whole-plant levels. The lines T3 and T13 had the highest AtHKT1 expression with the tolerance index (an quantitative assessment) being 6.8 times that of the control. At 30 days under 100 and 150 mmol L− 1 NaCl stress treatments, the T3 and T13 lines had least reductions in net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate among the seven lines, leading to the increased water use efficiency and decreased yield loss. We conclude that the constitutive overexpression of AtHKT1 reduces Na+ accumulation in potato leaves and promotes the K+/Na+ homeostasis that minimizes osmotic imbalance, maintains photosynthesis and stomatal conductance, and increases plant productivity.

Global agrifood systems face three interconnected challenges: ensuring food security, promoting environmental sustainability, and restoring soil health in the face of climate change. Conventional practices have prioritized productivity over ecological resilience, leading to soil degradation, increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and inefficient resource utilization. Here, we introduce a “triple-goal” agrifood framework that enhances food production, soil health, and GHG mitigation simultaneously through integrated innovations. Using a second-order meta-analysis of 104 meta-analyses that cover 39,162 studies and 300,139 global field comparisons, we identified key interventions, including optimized fertigation, diversified cropping systems, organic amendments, and precision N management, that increased productivity by 14%–28% while reducing environmental impacts. Diversified systems boosted yields by 19.6% and reduced land use by 19%. Integrating legumes and cover crops lowered N₂O emissions by 18%–65%, while organic amendments increased soil organic carbon stocks by 7%–13%. Structural equation modeling identified nitrogen use efficiency and microbial activity as central to the food-soil-emissions nexus. However, tradeoffs remain; yield-focused strategies can elevate emissions if not tailored to local conditions. By integrating agronomic, biological, and technological interventions such as conservation tillage, biofertilization, and digital agriculture, this triple-goal framework supports a 15%–30% reduction in anthropogenic CO₂-equivalent emissions. These findings underscore the need for policy reform and multi-stakeholder collaboration to scale up the adaptation of integrated strategies in alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the “One Health” initiative. The triple-goal framework provides a transformative pathway to climate-smart, equitable, and resilient agrifood systems that strike a balance between productivity and planetary health.