Soil searching
Rachel Brazil talks to the scientists trying to understand – and improve – the health of the planet’s soil
Soil is facing a crisis. While the developed world has improved its air and water quality, soil ‘is taken for granted’. Climate change and the overuse of chemical fertilisers are leaving it vulnerable to erosion and loss of fertility, with serious implications for our ability to feed everyone on the planet in the future. Although for some of us it comes in plastic bags from the garden centre, soil starts its life as bedrock, weathered down into particles which are colonised by microbes and plants. These decay to become part of the fertile mixture we know as soil. Researchers are now concerned with ‘soil health’ – the continuing capacity of soil to sustain plants, animals and ultimately humans. According to a United Nations-backed study, about a third of soils globally show declining health, with 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil being lost each a year.
How can we maintain soil health while also growing enough food to feed the world?