Yesterday’s meeting of the Cross Party House of Common’s Agroecology Group discussed the potential for soil management practices to influence the future of farming in the UK. The session was chaired by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer and co hosted by the Food Ethics Council.

 Professor Mark Kibblewhite, Chair of Soil Science at Cranfield University, kicked off the session by scene setting the romantic attachment we have with soils - the smell of light rain on dry earth on a warm summers evening...

The British Society of Soil Science today co-hosted Earth Under Pressure: Maximising the value of soils at The Planet Under Pressure conference with the James Hutton Institute, Rothamsted Research and UNEP. Society President, Dr Helaina Black, introduced the session saying "there is an obvious but neglected opportunity to tackle many of the world's pressing environmental issues by improving soil quality globally".

Highlights

• Poverty is the biggest cause of soil degradation in the Himalayan region of India. This is driven by small-holdings, less technical know-how and poor take up of new approaches. (Dr Vikas Sharma).
• Most soil data is over 20 years old and not joined up. Dr Neil McKenzie, CSIRO Land and Water said "Scratching around at our current evidence base (on soils) is frankly embarrassing." Soil data is needed to address food and water security, carbon storage and other challenges faces mankind. There is a need to regularly monitor global soil conditions and the indications from most regions show that the warning signs are serious. This requires regular assessments: mapping, monitoring and forecasting. We need to rebuild the technical capability for surveying soil so that we can make regular reviews of soil quality, just as the IPCC does with the greenhouse gas inventory.
• Prof Diana Wall, Colorado State University "What matters is food webs, not just biodiversity." The function of organisms is much more important than just assessing numbers. Plant roots offer considerable untapped potential to harness more soil to address yield gaps. Prof Peter Gregory said "This is an exciting time to be a soil scientist" as they now have new opportunities in genetics and analytical sciences to understand how plants function and interact with their environment.

A report published today by the Technician Council indicates an alarming skills gap between the current number of technicians in the UK and the 450,000 that will be needed by 2020 to underpin a growing innovation economy and the report calls on government, public sector employers, industry leaders and professional bodies.
 
The Science Council has answered the call by establishing a new professional register for science technicians, finally embracing technicians within the professional science community.  Workforce research published in September showed that 20% of the UK workforce - some 5.8million people - are now employed in science based roles in the UK economy and that this is expected to increase to 7.1m in 2030: of this work force, about one-third are non-graduates working with science skills in a variety of ways and many of these will be highly skilled technicians.

The British Society of Soil Science will co-host the soils session at The Planet Under Pressure conference on Tuesday 27th March, where world renowned scientists will debate the opportunities to maximise the benefits from soils for society now and in 100 years. The Society's President, Helaina Black, says "there is an obvious but neglected opportunity to tackle many of the world's pressing environmental issues by improving soil quality globally. We hope that the RIO20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will grasp this opportunity".