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The report looks into the safeguarding of the soil of UK land, preserving its quality and defending against soil erosion and other such threats.
Prof Andy Whitmore, Department of Soil Science at Rothamsted Research, said:
“We ask much of our soils. Not only must they be able to supply us with safe, sufficient and nutritious food, but they must also be able to absorb heavy rainfall in order to mitigate flood and erosion risk.
“Soils and vegetation have to cope with the deposition of atmospheric pollutants that fall on them and process the organic waste materials that we would otherwise send to landfill. Soil-dwelling organisms, the life in soil, are far more diverse that those above ground and a healthy soil provides habitat for this richness. Defra’s soil strategy, published today, addresses many of the issues needed to safeguard our soils for future generations. We particularly welcome Defra’s recognition of the need to fund research on both sustainable soil function and the effect of climate change on soils and agricultural production. The document stresses the importance of organic matter and the key role that it plays in sustaining the various functions that we expect of soil.
“Organic matter gives the soil its native fertility, it helps maintain an open and extensive pore structure that transmits, but also stores water, it helps to keep soil strong when wet (avoiding erosion) but relatively weak when dry so allowing roots to penetrate and seedlings to thrive. Carbon is the major component of organic matter and so organic matter in soil stores carbon, derived from the atmosphere. We look forward to working with Defra in order to help deliver its vision of ensuring the sustainable management of all of England’s soils and tackling the threats posed by degradation.”
Dr Kathryn Allton, Soil Scientist and Executive Officer of the British Society of Soil Science, said:
“Soil is society’s most important natural resource. Soil protection requires an international perspective to address the wider role of soils in addressing the global concerns of food security of food security, energy provision, loss of biodiversity, climate change and water supply; it is a non-renewable resource. Good management of our soil resources, along with restoration of degraded soils, will be essential if we are to head off the ‘perfect storm’ recently mentioned by Professor Beddington, the UK Government’s Chief Scientist.
“The British Society of Soil Science and the Institute of Professional Soil Scientists, which represents soil scientists across the UK and internationally, welcomes the publication of the Soil Strategy for England which firmly recognises the vital role that soils have not only in producing food for our tables but also in helping to protect us from environmental hazards and extreme weather events.
“Within the UK and elsewhere we need action now to reduce the loss of soil and its functions from construction, contamination, inappropriate farming practises and other human interventions (such as building on Grade 1 Agricultural Land – clearly incompatible with enhancing food security) and a clear commitment to resources for research, knowledge transfer, monitoring and implementation. We need to be sure that our soils have the capacity to increase food production, provide energy, reduce the impacts and costs of flooding, support biodiversity, and improve the quality of our air, water and habitats, as the human populations is set increase to increase to 9 billion by 2040. Explicit recognition of soils in the planning process will be a great help with this but there is still some way to go before soils achieve the level of protection that we give to our air and water resources. In addition, a soil monitoring programme required to track whether our soils are coping with pressures, such as pollution, management and climate change, and the competing demands from society.
“Much of the research underpinning this strategy was undertaken by our members but far more is still required. The numbers of professional soil scientists in the UK has declined over time in conjunction with the loss of Soil Science departments. Investment is clearly needed in training soil scientists to meet these future challenges.
“The Society and the Institute therefore strongly encourage the UK Government to support the proposal for an EU Soil Framework Directive which would help to ensure that good management and protection of England’s soil resources can be maintained despite increasing global pressures.”
Dr Dave S. Reay, Senior Lecturer in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh, said:
“This strategy is very welcome, if somewhat overdue. For 10,000 years our species has been struggling with how to get more food from the soil in a sustainable way. Poor land management and the inefficient use of fertilisers, especially nitrogen, represent a massive policy failure to date. With a projected 9 billion mouths to feed globally by 2050 we can’t afford to keep on failing.”