Healthy soil supports healthy food systems. Plus, clean water and air, diverse ecosystems, and a whole lot more. Here’s everything you need to know…

Soil is the foundation

Even if you’re not a hard-core gardener, the importance of soil health cannot be understated. Healthy soil lays the groundwork for healthy and productive food and agriculture systems. But that’s not all. Healthy soil also protects natural ecosystems (can’t live without ‘em) and combats the effects of climate change (very key).

What is soil health?

Healthy soil basically functions as a living ecosystem that sustains all the plants, animals, and humans on earth. It’s able to do so thanks to an abundance of bacteria, fungi, algae, and other microbes dwelling within it. In fact, one teaspoon of soil can house as many as one billion bacteria, several yards of fungal filaments, and thousands of other microscopic organisms.

It’s safe to say that soil is an unsung hero when it comes to supporting life on earth. 

Here are some of soil’s most heroic roles:

• Storing water and regulating water cycle (including rain, snowmelt, and irrigation)
• Sustaining animal and plant life
• Filtering potential contaminants and pollutants
• Storing and transferring nutrients between living and nonliving things in the environment
• Providing support and protection for plant roots, physical structures, and more

Why does soil health matter? 

Soil is resilient, but it’s not immune to the batterings of climate change and human influence. In fact, some research shows that soil may take hundreds of years to naturally develop. So if soil is degraded or destroyed, we can’t just produce more on demand. 

Soil health also plays a really important role in growing nutritious food to feed all animals and humans. Unhealthy soil can affect food production, which can have far-reaching effects on food security and human health. Healthy soil is essential for eliminating hunger and achieving other sustainability goals, according to the United Nations.

Is farming good for soil health?

Farming plays a huge role in soil health. Many industrial agriculture methods negatively impact soil health. When farms use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, this may reduce the diversity of healthy bacteria in soil and contribute to the buildup of heavy metals and nitrates in crops and livestock that can be harmful to humans and our waterways. 

Many non-organic agricultural methods are not ideal for supporting healthy soil, but sustainable agriculture is a whole different story. 

Here are some ways sustainable farming and soil management techniques (like planting cover crops and rotating the crops grown on a plot of land) can benefit and support healthy soil:

• Improving soil’s ability to hold onto water
• Reducing the need for pesticides, which encourages healthier, more biologically diverse soil that’s full of healthy bacteria
• Improving soil’s ability to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which helps us fight climate change.