Research and projects

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• In Lausanne, an art project highlights the impacts the loss of soils in cities is having on wildlife. Architects Comle and Meuwy have installed an 18-metre high birdhouse. The three-legged monument supports an oversized mistletoe ball, which serves a nest box for birds while helping to support the lifecycle of the plant.

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• New climate change modelling focusing on land-atmosphere feedbacks shows that extreme soil drought and atmospheric aridity will become more common in the coming century as the climate breaks down. This makes improving soil health now even more crucial!

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• Soil security is an increasingly popular concept, taken up in and shaping research programmes. This article reviews discourses related to 'Soil Security', and, acknowledging the way that language shapes our realities, urges the soil science community ‘to actively consider the implications and nuances of any discourse, including that of Soil Security [and] concludes with suggestions on how to reflect on the practice of soil science and its role in the future of humanity.’

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• European scientists have been digging deep so they can better understand the multiple threats facing soil which include erosion, pollution, decline of biodiversity and urbanisation. They want to come up with better preventive measures. Watch the video here.

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• What influences the ways microbes function in soils? Ember Morrisey, an environmental microbiologist, compared evolutionary and environmental impacts on Arizona’s soil microbe functions, and found that evolutionary history is a more significant factor in determining the function of microbes – in other words, for soil microbes who your ‘parents’ are is more important than where you are in determining what they end up doing in soils.

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• Regenerative agriculture, which is based on soil conservation and rejuvenation, is taking root in Africa. David Sedley comments on his recent research noting the growing uptake of RegenAg, and the importance of productivity, ethical and succession concerns to its success.

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• Soil microbes are being harnessed to change the molecular structure of soils to prevent them from undergoing liquefaction – a state in which soil behaves like a liquid, causing huge land slides –  during earthquakes. The idea is that by intensively feeding bacteria at up 20 feet below the surface, the structure of soil can be modified to prevent liquefaction.

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Soils policy and social movements

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• It looks like soil carbon sequestration will be part of the next edition of Common Agricultural Payments for farmers in EU member countries. In a meeting of EU’s Agriculture Ministers, Grasslands, crop rotation, reduced tillage, direct sowing, afforestation and agroforestry were highlighted as concrete actions were all highlighted as concrete actions.

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• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has released a report “Realising the Carbon Benefits of Sustainable Land Management: Practices Guidelines for estimation of soil organic carbon in the context of land degradation neutrality planning and monitoring”. In accordance with the dictum that ‘you can’t manage if you can’t measure’, the report This reviews and com-pares available tools and models for Soil Organic Carbon estimation, presents practical guidance for land managers and puts forward policy-oriented proposals. SOC is one of the 3 key indicators for assessing Land Degradation Neutrality. 122 countries have committed to setting land degradation neutrality (LDN) targets, 84 have officially validated their targets, and 51 have put their targets into legislation. Comments and summary of the report available in this press release

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• Soil pollution continues to be serious in China, where 20% of farmland is polluted with heavy metals. This story about a village living in the shadow of a mountain made of – ironically – phosphate fertiliser by-products illustrates the challenges faced. Enforcement of soil pollution laws is proving difficult, as the ‘polluter pays’ principle is hard to apply in situations of diffuse responsibility, or when the facts are occluded.

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• Urban farms in New York are dealing with lead pollution by building soil layers up, re-using sediment soil from local building sites which would otherwise be wasted. A wonderful example of soil-making in action.

 

• How can we value healthy soils in food systems? In California, a non-profit called The Perennial Farming Initiative is launching a program called Restore California which will connect diners, restaurants, and farmers practicing regenerative agriculture. Participating restaurants add an optional “1 percent for healthy soil” surcharge to customer tabs, and if just 1 percent of the state’s restaurants joins, the group estimates it could generate $10 million per year in funding for healthy soils

 

• Microplastics are proving a real scourge of soils, with research emerging about their serious negative impacts on the health of earthworms, and therefore the entire soil ecosystem.

 

• The solution may come from the soil too, however. A soil microbe commonly found in New Jersey wetlands has been found to be able to break down one of the toughest class of pollutants, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS

 

• It is now possible to assess soil quality using an app which provides real information on the type of suitable agricultural methods depending on the soil, crops and conditions.  

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Soil in the news

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• Interesting developments in land-user soil analysis technology as a Brazilian start-up Agrobiotica adapts the laser technology used by NASA for the Mars Rover to analyse soil samples in order to provide farmers with quick, clean and affordable soil analysis. Their tool evaluates up to 1,500 samples per day without chemicals, supplying data on the amount of organic soil carbon, texture (sand, silt and clay contents), macro and micronutrients and pH.

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Editorials, blogs and opinion

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• An interesting skeptical take on the potential for soil carbon sequestration through carbon farming, set in the context of the political manoeuvring in the US. “we ought to be a little wary of ambitious soil-policy solutions for climate change. (…) But the nice thing about about these proposals is that minimizing tillage, planting cover crops, and the other practices that store soil carbon are generally good for the environment"

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• David Montogemery comments on the IPCC’s report on Climate Change and Land, and writes: it’s time for a global "soilshot" to heal the land. Rebuilding healthy fertile soil on the world’s agricultural lands would require fundamental changes to agriculture, and a new agricultural philosophy. But consider who stands to lose from such a shift: corporate interests that profit from modern agrochemical-intensive farming and factory-farm livestock production. Who stands to gain? Everyone else.”

 

 

• Phosphorus occurs in soils naturally, but in intensive agriculture it is most often added as a mineral fertiliser. This short essay gives a good overview of the problems this poses for food and environmental systems, and suggests ways forward towards a circular phosphorus use

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Resources

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• An amazing Massive Online Open Course on Tropical Soils is available for free on EDX developed by Karen Vancampenhout and colleagues. On my list!

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• Soil has made it to TED Talks:  biogeochemist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe dives into the science of soil and shares how we could use its awesome carbon-trapping power to offset climate change.

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• The ReCare EU project which finished last year has fantastic resources now available on their website, including soil threat fact-sheets, policy briefs, and videos of case studies. There is also a list of resources available for schools and soil education more broadly.

 

• Meet soils ‘in person’ in a fantastic setting of this UNESCO Geopark in Western Germany

 

• Are you hungry for more soil news and information? CheTerraPesti is another great soil news newsletter, available freely here

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