World Soil Day!
Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity
World soil day is held annually on the 5th December to focus attention on the importance of healthy soils and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
Soil is a vital resource for the functioning of our planet, and is therefore an important contributor to human well-being through its role in food production, water access, energy security and for the prevention of biodiversity loss.
Did you know?
- Soil captures more carbon than trees!
- Soil is a living resource, home to more than 25% of the planet’s biodiversity.
- It is currently estimated that only 1% of soil microorganism species are currently known (compared to 80% of plant species).
- There are more microorganisms in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on earth.
- Up to 90% of living organisms live or spend part of their life cycle in soils.
What things can we do here at Groobarbs to help the soil? Ploughing less soil so that we can encourage more earthworms! Have more veg and cover crops during winter to protect against erosion, which provides organic matter to the soil and gives the soil organisms something to eat! Most importantly, we must change our focus onto soil nutrition rather than crop nutrition to keep those lovely nematodes thriving! A healthy soil will produce great tasty crops for us all to eat!
Info from un.org & Soil Science Society of America
