It's World Soil Day. Here's why everyone should care.

When I sit down with my family for dinner, my thoughts often turn to a subject that others may find unappetizing: soil.

Soil sustains us all. It’s where food begins - the source of all fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains grown and consumed worldwide. It’s also one of our most tangible levers for curbing climate change, because of its ability to store carbon. Through carbon sequestration, soil has the potential to offset an estimated 5-15% of global fossil-fuel emissions each year.

But soils have been treated like dirt for too long. There’s no time better than today - World Soil Day - to call attention to this valuable but oft-mistreated resource.

Soil and innovation

Approximately 33% of the earth's soils are already degraded, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). If current rates of soil degradation continue, the FAO predicts, the world could run out of topsoil in about 60 years.

To prevent further deforestation - key to curbing climate change - we need to restore the health of our existing farmland. Growing fewer crops is certainly not the answer. With the world’s population now at 8 billion people, and poised to grow to 10 billion by 2050, we must improve soil health while simultaneously increasing productivity and farmer profitability.

Fortunately, if we act swiftly, there’s hope. I have been experimenting with various initiatives on my own farm (more on this in a future post), and I’ve seen first-hand the role innovation can play in protecting this precious resource. I’m proud that at Syngenta Crop Protection, we’re committing our significant innovation capabilities toward developing solutions for healthier soils, and to working closely with farmers for soil’s health.

Leveraging science, artificial intelligence, and data analytics

In 2021, Syngenta conducted 81 soil health projects and 61 biodiversity projects across more than 18 million acres (7.5 million hectares) of farmland worldwide. At our new Soil Health Center in Stein, Switzerland, our scientists work to deepen our understanding of the billions of interactions in soil, its structure, and its contribution to biodiversity.

These insights help us develop solutions that safeguard the health and biodiversity of soil, while protecting crops from pests.

We’re also bringing biological seed-applied solutions to market that reduce farmers’ dependence on synthetic fertilizers, by helping crops capture nitrogen from the atmosphere. At the same time, our expanding portfolio of biologicals offer growers additional solutions to enhance soil health while managing resistance and reducing residues.

Digital technologies that leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud-based platforms are a further game changer, helping farmers ensure that exactly the right amount of product is used, at the right time and in the right location.

One of the most promising pathways for improving soil health is through regenerative agriculture: a method of sustainable farming that prioritizes the nurturing of soil health through practices that include no-till farming, the use of cover crops and continual crop rotation and diversification. Regenerative agriculture aims to increase yields and farmer profitability while making a substantial contribution to the fight against climate change.?We are collaborating with scientists and agronomists to determine which regenerative practices are most effective in varying climatic conditions—and to develop scalable solutions.

Collaborating to save our shared resources

It is an exciting time to work together with stakeholders from the food value chain and beyond, for the health of our soils. In Vietnam, in partnership with Louis Dreyfus Company, Jacobs Douwe Egberts Peet's and IDH, we introduced sustainable farming practices to improve soil health and have helped some 7,000 coffee farmers increase yields and improve income.?

Through our LivinGro? program, we also bring together farmers and scientists from around the world, to assess how different farming practices impact biodiversity, soil health and crop production sustainability.

We’re also working with The Nature Conservancy to restore degraded lands of Brazil’s Cerrado ecoregion and boost the ability of local farmers there to thrive. Through Reverte, we apply a systems approach to integrate a variety of technologies and production practices, financing, agronomic practices that improve soil health.

Why soil should be table talk

It’s easy to take soil for granted. As you sit down for your next meal this World Soil Day, I’d encourage you to take a moment to think about where the food you’re eating comes from: a precious, and endangered resource that’s right beneath our feet.?