Agricultural soil is a non-renewable natural resource that requires careful stewardship in order to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. However, industrial and agricultural activity is often detrimental to soil health and can distribute heavy metal(loid)s into the soil environment, with harmful effects on human and ecosystem health. In this Review, we examine processes that can lead to the contamination of agricultural land with heavy metal(loid)s, which range from mine tailings runoff entering local irrigation channels to the atmospheric deposition of incinerator and coal-fired power-plant emissions. We discuss the relationship between heavy metal(loid) biogeochemical transformations in the soil and their bioavailability. We then review two biological solutions for remediation of contaminated agricultural land, plant-based remediation and microbial bioremediation, which offer cost-effective and sustainable alternatives to traditional physical or chemical remediation technologies. Finally, we discuss how integrating these innovative technologies with profitable and sustainable land use could lead to green and sustainable remediation strategies, and conclude by identifying research challenges and future directions for the biological remediation of agricultural soils.

农业土壤是不可再生的自然资源，需要认真管理才能实现联合国的可持续发展目标。然而，工业和农业活动通常不利于土壤健康，并且可以将重金属（胶体）分布到土壤环境中，对人类和生态系统健康产生有害影响。在本综述中，我们研究了可能导致农田重金属（胶体）污染的过程，其范围从矿山尾矿径流进入当地灌溉渠道到焚烧炉的大气沉积和燃煤电厂排放物不等。我们讨论了土壤中重金属（类）生物地球化学转化与其生物利用度之间的关系。然后，我们回顾了两种生物方法来修复受污染的农业土地，基于植物的修复和微生物生物修复，为传统的物理或化学修复技术提供了经济高效且可持续的替代方案。最后，我们讨论了如何将这些创新技术与有利可图和可持续的土地利用相结合，从而可以实现绿色和可持续的修复策略，并通过确定研究挑战和对农业土壤生物修复的未来方向进行总结。