Talking about food is something we all do on some level, even if it’s just the conversation around your next meal, but talking about soil and it’s relationship to our food is a conversation that’s only just starting to gain momentum.
Food is multi-dimensional, it brings people together from farmers to urban families, it’s something we all share. Recently I was lucky enough to be in a room full of farmers, foodies, politicians and environmentalists talking about future of food.
The conversation very quickly turned to soil.
Farmers were commenting on just how much of it we’ve lost and the lack of life in our soils caused by industrial farming methods that rely heavily on fertilizers and pesticides. They spoke of the loss of ecosystem functioning and biodiversity because of over grazing and farming in a way that neglects to listen to the land and work with it. Farmers talked of the need for change at all levels of our food system to support a shift in farming methods towards those that will regenerate our land, suck carbon out of the atmosphere, and restore biodiversity and ecosystem functioning whilst producing food that is nutrient dense. The answer they said, was in the soil.
Foodies talked about the flavor, freshness and stories behind food that’s grown locally, in healthy soil. Food that’s no longer a commodity, but grown with love by people you know because you’ve taken the time to listen. They talked about food that looks a little different to what we expect because it’s been grown in nature, ripened by the sun and isn’t perfectly round, but is full of flavor. The message, food tastes better when it’s been grown in healthy soil.
Health professionals talked about the 118 elements of the periodic table and the 60 elements that are found in the human body. As humans we largely get these elements from the food we eat. The food we eat gets these elements from the soil and the intimate relationship between plant roots and mycorrhizae (fungi) that help the plants absorb nutrients from the soil. It’s only in healthy soil that there is a strong symbiotic relationship between soil and mycorrhizae. This means if we eat food that’s been grown in healthy soil it’s nutrient dense and provides us with the minerals we need for a healthy, full life. Again it all hinged on the soil.
Environmentalists are talking about the ability of healthy landscapes to act as the world’s carbon sink, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and trapping it in the soil. Functioning in the same way the world’s great grasslands have for eons of time. To make this happen we need to support the growth of biologically diverse plant communities through healthy soils and allow them to be periodically grazed.
It’s a story of an industry on the edge of change at all levels from the farmer who grows our food to those who consume it and the adjacent industries that rely on the outcomes and impacts of food production like ecosystem functioning and human health.
I encourage you to start digging, in the dirt and into the story behind your food and it’s power to improve our health and that of the planet.
