The Promise of Soil Health
Working agricultural lands are the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet, covering ~50% of habitable land.
In the U.S., agriculture contributes 10% of our greenhouse gas emissions [1], and by adopting soil health practices the sector can achieve net zero emissions by 2040. [2]
Those facts alone are enough to warrant our attention.
But it’s much more than carbon: improving soil health drives globally-scalable interconnected benefits across environmental, economic and social outcomes.
Environmental Impact: Regenerative practices rebuild soil, capture carbon, restart a healthy water cycle, absorb and hold moisture, moderate temperatures, increase resilience and productivity in the face of extreme climate events, recharge aquifers, restore biodiversity, and enhance ecosystems, turning agriculture into a solution for climate challenges rather than a contributor to them.
Economic Impact: Improving soil microbiology can significantly increase on-farm profitability (by 70%-120% according to one study [3]) through improved soil fertility, reduced chemical input costs, more consistent and often higher yields, and access to new markets, ensuring that farms are economically sustainable and can thrive for generations.
Social Impact: Improved soil health ripples far beyond the farm gate, enhancing the mental health of farmers, bolstering the resilience of rural communities, improving food security, and fostering equitable access to the means and benefits of farming, particularly for those in historically marginalized groups. There are also early indications that improving soil health in turn improves the health of the plants and the nutritional profile of their crops.
Soil health is scalable across all 3.4 billion agricultural acres globally.
It offers equitable social opportunities.
And It’s profitable.
No other climate solution can promise this.
To explore more:
If you have 5 minutes: here’s a good high level explainer from Rabo Bank
If you have a couple of hours, you might enjoy the movie Kiss the Ground or its follow-up Common Ground.
If you want to dive straight into the deep end, get engrossed with content from expert practitioners like Understanding Ag’s Case Studies or John Kempf’s Regenerative Agriculture Podcast.
[1] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, 2021
[2] Soil Health Institute, “Achieving Net Zero GHG Emissions in U.S. Agriculture through Soil Health”, 2023
[3] Cultivating Farmer Prosperity: Investing in Regenerative Agriculture, BCG, OP2B, WBCSD