Microplastics and Agricultural Production: Process, Economic Implications, and Solutions

Microplastics (MPs) are an emerging agricultural contaminant with wide-ranging biological, environmental, and economic consequences. This review analyzes MPs impacts on soil health, plant health, and crop yields. In addition, this review assesses direct economic costs of MPs attributed to reduced productivity and hence lowered profitability. It was found that costs of remediation often have staggering prices that smaller farms, especially in the developing countries, may not have resources to handle. Moreover, MPs bring indirect effects related to long-term soil degradation, market rejection, and trade disruptions. These challenges may especially affect poorer and developing countries, as oftentimes agriculture holds large percentages in GDP, and is needed for national food security. As such, these countries may face disproportionate risks of increased poverty rates and food insecurity. There are several potential solutions involving plant growth regulators, biochar, conservation agriculture, and other biotechnological methods, however many of these options are offered at unaffordable prices to smaller farming systems. Current knowledge remains limited, particularly in observing long-term effects in field-scale scenarios. Future research should prioritize the integration of agronomic, ecological, and economic perspectives to provide scalable mitigation strategies that could inform effective remediation policies.