World Soil Day
Soil, where food begins
Did you know that 95% of our food comes from soils? And that it takes up to 400 years to create one centimetre of soil, but at current rates of soil erosion we’re losing a millimetre every year?
Healthy soils – with their rich blend of organisms, minerals and organic components – make for healthy food. Yet until relatively recently, we’ve treated soils as no more than a substrate for our crops: somewhere to anchor their roots.
It’s been a short-sighted approach. Worldwide, more than one-third of our soils are degraded; after years of being managed unsustainably, they’re losing fertility and yielding nutrient-deficient crops. Over the last 70 years, says the FAO, there’s been a significant reduction in the levels of vitamins and minerals measurable in food. Consequently, FAO estimates that 2 billion people now suffer from a lack of micronutrients, because their soil lacks appropriate micronutrients too.
FAO’s World Soil Day – marked every year on December 5 – seeks to raise awareness of soils: why it’s important to keep them healthy and what we can do to improve them.
The FAO estimates that if we were to manage soils more sustainably, global production of food could rise 58%. That’s an interesting point to consider in the context of UN estimates that suggest a 60% increase in agricultural production is needed to meet the global food demand in 2050.
For World Soil Day 2022, the campaign is “Soils: where food begins”. It focuses on the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management and maintenance of soil health.
It’s a campaign to which FertiGlobal is firmly committed. From the company’s inception, soil health has always been at the top of the pyramid. We’ve built a product portfolio, based on innovative grower tools such as EnNuVi – the LIFE-awarded biostimulant technology – that recognise the sanctity of the soil and allow farmers to start rebuilding soil health.
Our dedicated Crop Management Programmes, deploying FertiGlobal products, allow farmers to manage their crops in a more environmentally friendly fashion, reducing usage of the pesticides and other products that can so comprehensively deplete soil biodiversity.
Soil is a precious resource. It does a lot for us. Let’s give it the attention it deserves, and the care it needs. Let’s be responsible about how we use it and what we ask of it.
