How farmers can improve soil health and feed the planet: an expert explains

How farmers can improve soil health and feed the planet: an expert explains

Soil health is declining at an alarming rate, leading to productivity losses and food-price rises.

Alfred Grand is a pioneer organic farmer and vermicomposting entrepreneur from Austria.

According to Grand, we need to take "a holistic and systemic approach about protecting and regenerating" soil, in order to feed the world.

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Soil is the foundation of all life on earth. Although our lives depend on it, we often overlook the importance of soil health. Threatened by land-use change, intensive agriculture, climate change and desertification, soil health is declining at an alarming rate and could be reaching a point of no return.

Farmers are at the frontline of the soil crisis. They have contributed to the degradation but are also the most affected by it. The current system has transformed agriculture into an extractive industry, one which uses natural resources such as water and soil nutrients unsustainably. As a consequence, over half of agricultural land is already degraded, leading to productivity losses of $400 billion per year and expected food-price increases of 30% by 2035.



Acknowledging what is at stake, some farmers have started to work to reverse this alarming trend.