Almost a year ago, I had an incredible conversation with Vegware’s Annalise Matthew about compostable vs biodegradable packaging. Our chat truly opened my eyes to the wonderful world of compost—but near the end, our chat took an unexpected turn, when she started talking to us about soil health and why it’s so important in our fight against climate change.
Intrigued, I set out to do a bit more digging. And luckily, the wonderful Mellany Klompe of the Soil Heroes Foundation was happy to oblige my burning curiosity! Soil Heroes helps farmers transition to regenerative agricultural methods; provides proof of practice on how regenerative agriculture (or ‘regen ag’, as the cool kids are calling it) boosts soil health and nutrition; and connects farmers with businesses that want to support this most worthy cause.
As an environmental scientist and a farmer herself, Mellany helped me realise the vital importance of what lies right beneath our feet. Strap in for a deep dive. Alternatively, quick jump to each answer by clicking the question below.
Why is soil health important?
Healthy soils are a key element in many of the ecosystem services that support life on earth—no big deal, eh? From pollination, to climate resilience, to carbon sequestration, our soils underpin all the natural systems that we and our planet rely upon to thrive.
Soil is no less than ‘the basis of our existence’, says Mellany. ‘We live on it, but it also produces our food and fibres. It’s the source for all our natural resources and minerals, which we use in our industrial processes. If we don’t take care of our soils, we don’t take care of ourselves.’
What is regenerative agriculture?
‘It’s a set of agricultural principles which all come back to one line, which is: it needs to add to soil health,’ says Mellany. Common tenets of regenerative agriculture include no or low tillage, crop rotations, growing cover crops and using organic fertilisers to help crops build up their natural resilience.
Regenerative agriculture also recognises that soils will be different in different areas, and require different methods of care. For instance, many farms that practise regenerative agriculture will brew their own biofertiliser made from leaves and fungi in the nearby area. Rather than relying on fertilisers (which are derived from fossil fuels!) every farm will have a different recipe for biofertiliser, says Mellany, ‘because what we need on our sea clay soils [in the Netherlands] is different from the sand soils in Australia.’
How are conventional agricultural practices impacting soil health?
Current mainstream agricultural practices — such as intensive farming, and using excessive amounts of fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics — have damaging effects on soil health, particularly in depleting the amount of organic matter in soils. The loss of organic matter makes soils less productive, more prone to erosion, and less capable of sequestering carbon. According to the FAO, a third of the world’s soils are now moderately to highly degraded.
What’s the connection between food production and climate change?
Extreme weather events such as increased bushfires, droughts and flooding have a direct impact on food production—and with severe weather becoming increasingly common due to climate change, the stability of our global food supply is at risk.
Our current farming methods are also exacerbating the climate crisis, with an estimated 25-30% of global emissions stemming from food systems. As mentioned above, the declining health of our soils plays a big role in this problem!
Mellany cites Project Drawdown’s report 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming, and points out that 60 of those practices are connected to agriculture. ‘Everyone now knows we need to change things,’ she says. ‘[So] not only do we need to change how we farm because we need to fight climate change and biodiversity loss, but because we need to make our food production more resilient. And regenerative practices will be one of the biggest contributions to that.’
