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Soil Research

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• There is mounting evidence that pesticides do serious harm to soil organisms, drawing attention to the need to focus on protecting biology and not jus soil structure as we develop more sustainable forms of growing food.

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• “Long-term carbon sinks in marsh soils of coastal Louisiana are at risk to wetland loss,” a new paper argues for protecting and restoring carbon storage in wetland soils, using historical mapping data, deep soil cores, and soil carbon accumulation rates to demonstrate the importance of considering historical habitats when evaluating a coastal areas' long-term ability to store carbon in the soil.

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• As the concept ‘soil health’ gains more importance in soil and land governance, the debates about its relevance for policy rage on. In this recent paper, an argument is presented for using soil functions coupled with ecosystem services rather than soil health to overcome issues associate with trade-offs and monitoring.

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• Soil microbes could help mycorrhizal fungi access nitrogen and phosphorus in soils. The research suggests that just like humans, the fungal hayphae have their own unique microbiomes

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• A team of researchers in Edinburg are studying the effects of Soapnut to mitigate diesel contamination in industrial soils.

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• A Yale School of Forestry paper looks at ways to connect US crop insurance policies to soil health practices, considering the effects of soil organic matter for drought resistance.

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• The relationship between soils and authoritarianism is often noted. This great new paper investigates the relationship between authoritarian governments in Italy and Brazil and the specific issue of soil fertility, and their production of “improved” soils, from both political and technological perspectives. A fascinating look at the intersections between political and ecological regimes.

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• An important paper on how to incorporate soils into spatial planning by via a comprehensive framework for soil ecosystem services.

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• Soil together with vegetation are starting to be seen as engineering materials in their own right. This paper provides an interesting analysis of a number of such ‘bioengineering’ case studies to showcase the potential of soil in improving cities. However, this meta-analysis of literature notes that soils as functional contributors are still rarely a focus of green infrastructure projects.

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• Did you know that sand is one of the most exported materials in the world, and that there is a 'sand crisis' looming due to the boom in urban construction? This short paper explores interesting empirical and theoretical aspects of the role of sand as an object of social scientific investigation.

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Soil news

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• Human composting, or “terramation” is taking off at the world’s first large-scale “body-to-soil facility” in Washington, after the state approved of “natural organic reduction” last year.

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• Soil protection in the EU is gaining momentum with the EU Parliament adopting a resolution on soil protection , calling for the EU commission to establish a strong legal framework to protect soil with clear objectives and measures.

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• UC Davis has updated their SoilWeb apps which can be used to access NRCS soil survey data

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• Farms are becoming more concerned with improving their soils by increasing their soil carbon content, and agri-food companies are looking for ways to meet their carbon reduction objectives. First Milk, Nestle, and Agricarbon have joined up and are using detailed soil analysis to identify land management strategies which are best at sequestering soil carbon.

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• A team of researchers at the James Hutton Institute have launched a new mobile app to provide farmers, land managers and the public with a quick, easy way to learn about soil erosion in Scotland. Users can also contribute their own records and images, which will improve our current understanding and be shareable with other users of the app.

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Soil happenings

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• The FAO held its Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity this month, bringing science and policy together in to review the status and challenges of soil biodiversity conservation and sustainable use; you can catch up on three days’ worth of fantastic talks.

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• A three day conference organised by the The University of Grenoble and Inrae "Soils and the underground in promises of socio-ecological transitions" will be held 9-11 June (online), and bring together a variety of approaches to soils and the underground situated within the Environmental Humanities and social sciences. The conference is in French, with keynotes in English.

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Soil Talks, Walks, and Musings

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• If you fancy going on a digital soil dig, Dr. Rebecca Lybrand at the University of Arizona has been producing fantastic dig-along videos on her soil research sites

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• Dr. Yamina Pressler shares these great short meditations on how to start seeing landscapes like a soil scientist by seeking out uncovered soils, and on parallels between soil formation - and human ‘formation’.

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• What makes fungi so special, and how do they work in soil ecosystems? Merlin Sheldrake discusses his already famous book “Entangled life” which deals with these issues in this talk; fascinating points, especially in the context of food production.

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• The rise of new landlords - An article by Nick Estes on how Bill Gates now owns more farmland in the USA than his native nation, and the potential consequences of the Silicon Valley's take-over of land.

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• A great editorial on soil biodiversity, and the challenges faced by soil biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity below ground seems to require different things to terrestrial biodiversity - so how do we proceed to protect the underground rainforest?

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• Fred Magdoff writes on soil organic matter and the evolution of soil carbon research, “Repairing the Soil Rift: Enhancing Agriculture and the Environment.”

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