Microbial genetic resources in food security to face COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

<p>COVID-19 has had an impact on the regional and worldwide agricultural value chain, jeopardizing food security. It is time to reassess the approach of the agri-food sector and to consider that the food supply and plant health, as agrosystemic services, must depend on strategies with a low impact on productive and environmental assets. One strategy is the use and optimization of microbial genetic resources (MGR) related to agroecosystems as a source of balance, functionality, productivity, inhibition of the impact of pests and pathogens, and contribution to the profitability of agri-food activity. It is necessary to strengthen and develop regional agricultural systems that are dynamic, that mitigate damages to the environment and produce nutritional and nutraceutical foods that ensure human health. Agricultural sciences are undergoing changes in scientific paradigms that will benefit the agri-food sector if we are able to learn from the impacts of an extensive technological agriculture. Approaching agriculture from an agro-systemic point of view in which the crop-community is the functional biological unit of study and to preserve the MGR diversity are the greatest challenges to create sustainable and resilient strategies and technologies that contribute towards human health and help prevent risks during health crises such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.</p>