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Academic Papers & Books​​

What do farmers think about the (soil) carbon markets? Some interesting evidence from the UK suggests they are reluctant, mainly due to issues of trust.

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Trade-off between pollinator-wildflower diversity & grassland yields Research conducted by the University of Sussex and Rothamsted Research indicates a direct causal relationship between high fertiliser use in soils and a reduction in pollinators.

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A new paper argues for more-than-relational soil ethics that go beyond attentive care and recognise the importance of detachment and exclusions in fostering multispecies flourishing.

 

How do agricultural policies shift from conventional to agroecological farming? This study from Mexico shows a transition marked by contradictions and contestations, with the government providing support for agroecological approaches as well as delivering free chemical fertilizer to farmers.

 

The emerging soil-based carbon economy rewards farmers for sequestering carbon, which many hope will deliver emission reductions and better soil health. However, there are important political and knowledge contestations related to the mitigation potential of carbon farming, this paper argues.

The Forever Pollution Project investigated the cost of PFAS pollution across Europe. It could cost up to €2 trillion to depollute some of the most concentrated soils.

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Oldies but Goodies

Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Custom House" contains several reflections on soil, including the provocative: "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil." 

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Francis Hole's "A Conversation with Terra Loam" is a unique contribution to soil education!

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Soil Art

New Exhibition Soil: The World At Our Feet launched at Somerset House, London until 13th April 2025. The exhibition brings together a range of stories and responses to soil from a group of global artists, writers, musicians and scientists. Read the Guardian review here 

 

There is a notice of selection for artists and an art curator for the European project “Soil Tribes", which is promoted by the Global Network of Water Museums. You can find it here: 

 

Have you heard Cosmo Sheldrake’s Soil song? It is a treat!

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For anyone that missed the call for Soil works at Nature, Art & Habitat Residency (NAHR.IT) in 2022, check out the new call for Mineral-focused works for 2025.

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Exploring the artistic dimensions of soils in the vadose zone. Artists use diverse media to explore human-soil connections. Drawing from two decades of research on soil representation in art, this paper examines the potential of creative approaches to understanding and engaging with the vadose zone. 

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Our connections to soil health through simile. This essay explores these two bodies through simile. Just as we wish others good health, so too should each of us (and society) wish for a world with excellent soil health. 

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WaterViz is an innovative project at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire that combines hydrology, art, and music to create a real-time visualization and sonification of the water cycle.

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Five speculative novels that can help to understand our relationship with soil. An article from The Conversation about literature that can help us explore human-soil relations.

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Soils in the news

Do you want to listen to soil? The first commercial soil acoustic kit is being developed - you can participate in its Kickstarter campaign.

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Soil health Now is a 3-day international conference organized by AI4SoilHealth in Wageningen on 8-10 April 2025 with keynotes, discussion forums, oral talks, workshops and demonstration along with fieldwork dedicated to science, technology and business intelligence for measuring, monitoring and increasing soil health. 

 

The European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO) released its EU Soil Strategy Action Tracker mapping the progress of 90 soil policy action sets in the EU Soil Strategy for 2030. 

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Announcements

Curiosoil Community of Practice will be held its Spring meeting on the 3rd of March 2025. It aims at contributing to the development, piloting and implementation of soil education initiatives across Europe. 

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Do you work on soil awareness of soil literacy? The journal Land is looking for contributors on these topics to a special issue, led by Prof. Gabrielle Brol and Dr. Arwyn Jones Land | Special Issue : Celebrating World Soil Day

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Call for Papers: Grounded Futures: The Poetics and Politics of Soil in a Changing World

This special issue draws together perspectives on soil from cultural studies, media studies, social sciences, and soil activism to inquire into the poetics and practice of soil care in local and transnational spaces. Reimagining our relationship with soil is fundamental to the future of our food system under increasingly precarious climatic conditions, yet it is also deeply entangled in cultural productions of home, nation, identity, place, and time. We are soliciting submissions for a special issue in the journal New Formations: A Journal of Culture/Theory/Politics. Please send 250-word abstracts to e.jagoe@utoronto.ca and include a short bio before April 1.