Microplastics in all 227 European farm fields, study finds — SkimNews
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- Minagris, a five-year EU-funded research project, found microplastics in the soil of all 227 agricultural fields it tested across 11 European countries, producing 22 peer-reviewed studies that researchers say demonstrate the contamination persists from current farming practices and historical land use.
- Edoardo Puglisi, professor of microbiology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Piacenza, Italy, said the smaller microplastics are, the more they adsorb pollutants, microbes and DNA — creating a 'Trojan horse effect' that can increase the diffusion of pathogens and antibiotic-resistance genes.
- Plastispheres — microbial habitats that form on plastic surfaces — showed an increase in antibiotic-resistant genes compared with controls, with pesticides found to amplify this effect further, according to the project's published studies.
- A Swiss study found that fields with the highest levels of tyre-wear particles also had the highest levels of other toxic chemicals and metals, linking a specific microplastic source to broader chemical contamination.
- Higher concentrations of microplastics reduced leaf area, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic efficiency and plant biomass in lettuce, with effects becoming more pronounced when drought conditions were added, one of the project's studies found.
- Biodegradable plastics were not automatically safer, the project found, as they can still fragment into microplastics and cause ecological damage — undermining a common proposed solution to plastic pollution.
- Esperanza Huerta Lwanga, a research associate in soil physics at Wageningen University, said fragmented plastics in soil are practically impossible to remove and called for standardized plastic monitoring, full manufacturer transparency, and risk assessments evaluating microplastics' interactions with co-pollutants.
Why it matters: The Minagris project tested 227 fields across 11 countries and found contamination in every single one, establishing microplastics as a continent-wide agricultural pollutant rather than a localized concern. Because these particles concentrate pesticides, heavy metals and antibiotic-resistant genes on their surfaces and transfer them through earthworms and crops, the findings directly affect European food production, soil biodiversity and the spread of antimicrobial resistance — issues the researchers say current environmental policy still treats in isolation rather than as a combined chemical threat.
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