Contaminants in agricultural soils: Challenges and solutions

Part 1 Types of contaminants in agricultural soils

• 1.Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contaminants in agricultural soils: occurrence and remediation: Teklit Gebregiorgis Ambaye, University of Brescia, Italy/Technical University of Denmark, Denmark; and Mentore Vaccari, University of Brescia, Italy;
• 2.Trace element contaminants in agricultural soils: challenges and solutions: Chandima Wekumbura, Kansas State University, USA; Chammi P. Attanayake, University of Illinois Urbana−Champaign/Kansas State University, USA; and Ganga M. Hettiarachchi, Kansas State University, USA;
• 3.Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as contaminants in agricultural soils: Lynda Peter and Linda S. Lee, Purdue University, USA;
• 4.Pesticide residues as contaminants in agricultural soils: Vera Silva, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands; Judith Riedo, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany; Diana Vieira, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Italy; Sergejus Ustinov, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy; Pia Kotschik, German Environment Agency, Division IV Chemical Safety – Section IV 1.3. Plant Protection Products, Germany; Violette Geissen, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands; Antonio Bispo and Claire Froger, INRAE, UR Info&ols, France; and Shiva Sabzevari, Masaryk University, Czech Republic;
• 5.Antibiotic residues as contaminants in agricultural soils: Nikola Rakonjac, Wageningen University, The Netherlands; Joost Lahr, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), The Netherlands; Sören Thiele-Bruhn, Trier University, Germany; Bjorn J. A. Berendsen, Wageningen Food Safety Research, The Netherlands; Carlos A. Faúndez Urbina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile; and Coen J. Ritsema, Wageningen University, The Netherlands;
• 6.Wastewater as a contamination risk for agricultural soils: Guy J. Levy, Asher Bar-Tal, Eddie Cytryn, and Mikhail Borisover, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Institute, Israel;

Part 2 Remediation techniques

• 7.Advances in analytical techniques for detecting contaminants in soils: Liang Wang and Ravi Naidu, University of Newcastle, Australia and CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (crcCARE), Australia; and Ying Cheng, University of Newcastle, Australia;
• 8.Advances in risk assessment of contaminated agricultural soils: M.A. Ayanka Wijayawardena and Ravi Naidu, University of Newcastle, Australia and CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (crcCARE), Australia;
• 9.Bioremediation: advances in using soil organic amendments to manage contaminants in agricultural soils: Gerhard Soja, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Austria;
• 10.Clay mineral-based additives for the in situ bioremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated agricultural soils: Solmaz Bidast and Santosh Kumar Paul, University of Newcastle, Australia; Ravi Naidu, CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (crcCARE), Australia; and Bhabananda Biswas, The University of Newcastle, Australia/CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (crcCARE), Australia/University of Greifswald, Germany;
• 11.Phytoremediation: advances in soil contaminant immobilization/phytostabilization combining soil amendments and vegetative cover: Paula Alvarenga , Luísa Louro Martins and Miguel Mourato, University of Lisbon, Portugal;
• 12.Phytoremediation: advances in soil contaminant phytoextraction by accumulator and hyperaccumulator plants: David W. M. Leung, University of Canterbury, New Zealand;
• 13.Managing contaminants in farmed soils: case studies from China: Fang Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, and Technical University of Munich, Germany; Yu Liu, Yuhao Fu, Leilei Xiang, Xin Jiang and Yongming Luo, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China;

Dr Ravi Naidu is Professor in the College of Engineering Science and Environment and Founding Director of the Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is also Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director and Chief Scientist of the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (crcCARE). Professor Naidu is also Chair of the UN FAO International Network on Soil Pollution (INSOP) and Chair of the CleanUp Conference Series. Amongst other honours he received the 2022 Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award and Medal and the 2023 European Geosciences Union Alina Kabata-Pendias Medal. His election as a Fellow of Australian Academy of Science Technology and Engineering, New Zealand Academy of Science and Indian Academy of Agricultural Science reflects his outstanding scientific contribution. With over 850 journal publications, he is a Web of Science Globally Highly-Cited Researcher in soil contamination and remediation research.

“This is a very timely publication given the increasing amount of concern over the diverse range of contaminants impacting agricultural soils, from per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to antibiotic residues. These contaminants may often be chronic and persistent problems will have a huge impact on the re-use of organic waste to land and the preservation of soils.” (Professor Paul Bardos, r3 Environmental Technology Ltd, UK)