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Research

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• A major new study reveals that soil fungi could play a significant role in the ability of forests to adapt to environmental change. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180316153852.htm

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• Highly complex interactions among roots, fungi and bacteria underlie the ability of some trees to clean polluted land, according to a novel study by bioinformatics and plant-biology experts https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180328120106.htm

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• The European Network for Rural Development published an interesting brochure with good case studies of careful soil management in a range of European countries https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/publications/eafrd-projects-brochure-resource-efficient-rural-economies_en

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• International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy – Volume 2 now available https://knowledge.unccd.int/publications/international-yearbook-soil-law-and-policy-volume-2-now-available

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• Until now, scientists thought plants got all their nitrogen from the atmosphere, but new research suggests Earth's bedrock supplies as much as a quarter of the planet's nitrogen. "This runs counter [to] the centuries-long paradigm that has laid the foundation for the environmental sciences. We think that this nitrogen may allow forests and grasslands to sequester more fossil fuel CO2 emissions than previously thought." "Geology might have a huge control over which systems can take up carbon dioxide and which ones don't," Houlton said. "When thinking about carbon sequestration, the geology of the planet can help guide our decisions about what we're conserving." https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2018/04/06/New-source-of-global-nitrogen-could-help-soil-store-more-CO2/1171523017222/

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• Farmer’s assessment of the usefulness of various soil health measurement methods from research by Great Soils now available http://horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/sites/default/files/AHDB%205%20Great%20Soils%20assessment%20methods.pdf

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• A summary of the advances in microwave remote sensing of the land surface for remote measuring of soil moisture https://sciencetrends.com/determining-soil-moisture-globally-through-satellite-measurements/

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• Modified soil antibiotic may help preserve penicillin effectiveness http://www.feedstuffs.com/news/modified-soil-antibiotic-may-help-preserve-penicillin-effectiveness

 

Editorials, blogs and opinion

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• Can Dirt save the Earth? A very well research long read on the rise of carbon farming/regenerative agriculture in the US https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/magazine/dirt-save-earth-carbon-farming-climate-change.html

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• Compost Is Magic https://www.newyorker.com/culture/onward-and-upward-in-the-garden/compost-is-magic

 

Soils in the news

 

• Food & drink businesses should embrace soil health https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/home/topics/environment/food-and-drink-businesses-should-embrace-soil-health/565721.article

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• A Grass-Roots Movement For Healthy Soil Spreads Among Farmers https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/04/09/597617822/a-grass-roots-movement-for-healthy-soil-spreads-among-farmers

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• How a handful of soil holds more life 50 billion life forms https://www.ft.com/content/2833fdee-2dbe-11e8-97ec-4bd3494d5f14

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• Global biochar market is driven by the growing demand for soil fertility in next 10 years http://eurowatchers.com/2018/04/02/global-biochar-market-is-driven-by-the-growing-demand-for-soil-fertility-in-next-10-years/

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• This interesting short article in Forbes highlights how soil health is becoming a commercial opportunity https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2018/03/20/dna-testing-biocarbon-and-custom-microbes-how-these-startups-are-improving-soil-health/#5dbc3287d69c

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• Intensive soybean production in Argentina leading to massive soil loss as new rivers appear overnight https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/01/argentina-new-river-soya-beans

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• £10m a year needed to ensure England's soil is fit for farming, report warns https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/24/10m-a-year-needed-to-ensure-englands-soil-is-fit-for-farming-report-warns

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Policy and social movements

 

• The importance of soil is placed under the spotlight in this in-depth analysis by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/soil-how-much-do-we-value-this-critical-resource/43422/

 

• UK farmers to be given first ever targets on soil health https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/13/uk-farmers-to-be-given-first-ever-targets-on-soil-health

 

• Worsening Worldwide Land Degradation Now ‘Critical’, Undermining Well-Being of 3.2 Billion People , says new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) https://www.ipbes.net/news/media-release-worsening-worldwide-land-degradation-now-%E2%80%98critical%E2%80%99-undermining-well-being-32 see also Guardian article here https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/26/land-degradation-is-undermining-human-wellbeing-un-report-warns?CMP=share_btn_fbhttps:

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• On dangerous ground: land degradation is turning soils into deserts http://theconversation.com/on-dangerous-ground-land-degradation-is-turning-soils-into-deserts-94100

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• Internal climate migrants are rapidly becoming the human face of climate change. According to the new World Bank report "Groundswell - Preparing for Internal Climate Migration", without urgent global and national climate action, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America could see more than 140 million people move within their countries’ borders by 2050 http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2018/03/19/groundswell---preparing-for-internal-climate-migration

 

• WWF-UK lays out a programme for UK's agro-environmental policy with soil at its heart https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/saving-earth-sustainable-future-soils-and-water

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Outreach and publicity

 

•  Soil and human health: the nutrition link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2olJ5zR4IGQ

 

• Soil videos collection: https://horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/greatsoils-videoswebinars

 

• A breathtakingly beautiful collection of pictures of soil mesofauna https://www.chaosofdelight.org

 

• Global Soil Biodiversity atlas is now available for viewing online http://atlas.globalsoilbiodiversity.org/

 

• RECARE have collated novels, movies, maps, children's books and more - all with a 'soily' theme https://knowledge.unccd.int/publications/recare-have-collated-novels-movies-maps-childrens-books-and-more-all-soily-theme

 

• Have you seen PEDcast, the soil science podcast? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1dIWVY0egg

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Events

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• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification held an interesting workshop on soil legislation in Africa, more detail here https://knowledge.unccd.int/publications/international-workshop-legal-instruments-effective-protection-and-sustainable

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Competitions

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• An urban design competition has been announced for re-designing cities in healthy soils, see here https://www.archdaily.com/891804/dust-to-dust-redesigning-urban-life-in-healthy-soils