Our knowledge of soil biodiversity in agriculture in general is currently increasing rapidly. However, almost all studies have stopped with the quantification of soil biodiversity effects on crops at harvest time, ignoring subsequent processes along the agrifood chain until food arrives on our plates. Here we develop a conceptual framework for the study of such postharvest effects. We present the main mechanisms (direct and indirect) via which soil biodiversity can influence crop quality aspects and give examples of how effects at harvest time may become attenuated through postharvest operations and how biodiversity may also affect some of these operations (i.e., storage) themselves. Future research with a broader focus has the potential to unveil how soil biodiversity may benefit from what ends up on our forks.

总体而言，我们对农业土壤生物多样性的了解目前正在迅速增加。然而，几乎所有的研究都停止了在收获时量化土壤生物多样性对农作物的影响，而忽略了沿着农业食品链的后续过程，直到食物到达我们的盘子。在这里，我们为研究这种收获后的影响开发了一个概念框架。我们介绍了土壤生物多样性可以影响作物质量方面的主要机制（直接和间接），并举例说明了收获后的行动如何通过收获后的行动来减轻收获时的影响，以及生物多样性如何也可能影响其中一些行动（即储存）本身。未来将有更广泛关注的研究有可能揭示土壤生物多样性如何从我们最终获得的利益中受益。