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Research

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• A fantastic collection of papers on soil information sharing and knowledge building for sustainable soil use and management has just been published in the Soil Use and Management journal; it is open access until the end of 2019. It was edited by and has many contributions by the Soil Care Network members!

• More fascinating insights into the connectivity between the ‘soil gut’ and the ‘animal gut’ as soil microbes show to be the strongest determinant of differences between gut flora in baboons

• A very interesting way of mapping soils by looking at indicator species: researchers from Finland and Brazil have now developed a method that uses both plant and soil data to produce a map of soil properties

• Soil moisture makes a big difference to the level of nitrous dioxide emissions

• Organic farming methods are a viable way of limiting greenhouse gas emissions from land, this research finds

• Another nail in the coffin of the hygiene hypothesis as this research finds that encouraging greater numbers and diversity of soil bacteria and dung beetles can suppress human pathogens such as e coli. Reducing on-farm biodiversity through the use of insecticides for example may be counter-productive in this respect

• More potential techno-scientific solutions to climate change found in soil’s biodiversity as a bacterium which oxidises methane is discovered

• An interesting note on the proceedings of the International Soil Modelling Consortium Conference last year: the transdisciplinary nature of soils calls for a new generation of models 

• Certain soil bacteria can help plants deal with heavy metal pollution

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Soils in the news

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• Soil is linked to climate change mitigation in this piece by the BBC, announcing the forthcoming report by IPBES

• Politico ran a special report on European soil degradation. It includes great graphic representations of soil degradation in Europe, a discussion of soil scientists’ attempts at putting soils on the European political agenda, the threat of desertification in most of Spain, and concerns about the impact of glyphosate on soil microbes – ironically the herbicide used by many no-till farmers

• John Deere has received a Soil Management award for their recent sensing technology which allows farmers to better control nutrient applications

• Nearly a fifth of China’s farmland suffers from contamination and pollution, and local authorities are urged to do more to clean up land

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Editorials, blogs and opinion

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• On finding hope and solutions by coming back to soils and practicing regenerative agriculture

• A wonderful story of how composting and making soil out of waste food – to grow more food ! – creates community relations in North Carolina

• That sweet smell soil has after the rain has a name – petrichor. This editorial discusses the pleasures of sensing soils with our noses

• In the light of 2019 floods in the US Midwest, this editorial examines the different long-term effects of soil flooding on soil health

• John Cherry, the founder of Groundswell, the first no-till conference in the UK, is interviewed about no-till in this article

• Forbes puts a spotlight on soils – unsurprisingly, focusing primarily on soils as carbon capture

• Soil salinization is an increasing problem to agriculture across the world due to sea level rise, irrigation, and climate change

• If you are a soil sampling geek like me you will find this discussion of soil sampling protocols , and the increasingl importance of quantifiable information in farming, really interesting

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