From innovation to impact: A systems approach to scaling agricultural innovations for coral reef protection

Coral reef ecosystems, including Australia's Great Barrier Reef, face intensifying pressure from diffuse agricultural pollution, particularly nutrient runoff. While emerging agricultural innovations, such as microalgae-based soil probiotics, offer potential to enhance nutrient-use efficiency and reduce environmental impacts, their large-scale adoption remains limited. This gap reflects not only technical or economic barriers, but also the complex socio-ecological systems in which such innovations are embedded. In this Perspective, we argue that a systems thinking approach is essential to understand and overcome the barriers to scaling agricultural innovations for reef protection. Integrating insights from soil microbiome engineering and interdisciplinary research, we show how systems thinking can serve as an analytical lens to understand adoption delays, ecological risks, and economic lock-ins, supporting transition toward long-term resilience in both farming systems and reef ecosystems.