The Story of Soil

The Story of Soil

The Story of Soil

by Timothy Kamuzu Phiri

Soil is one of the most important natural resources we have, yet ironically it is the resource we have neglected them most. There definitely seems to be more attention paid to minerals, trees/timber, water, air, and crop resources. Soil just seems to be that dirt from which our food grows and its health is a non-issue. Our soils have been undergoing degradation for decades (through poor farming practices, poor sanitation and disposal of waste, unsustainable construction/building methods to name a few) and we all seem to be okay with this status quo. Currently conventional farming methods are considered the norm, we forget that before chemical fertilizers came on to the scene healthy soil is what nourished and sustained our crops. Crops and vegetation have always had a symbiotic relationship with soil. We seem to have forgotten that healthy soil-functional soil is supposed to be a living entity on its own- it was never meant to be a lifeless medium that temporarily holds water and chemical fertilizer nutrients for our crops. Soil is more than just dirt or a medium, it the host and habitat of trillions of microorganisms which also add to functionality. The use of chemical fertilizers and various poisonous pesticides kills these living organisms and creates instability and lifelessness in the soil. The chemical fertilizers can never and will never replace the diverse rich nutrition of living soils. It is no wonder that most modern crops grow big and look bright but lack the flavor, scent and nutritional depth of crops of old. There is something missing in our soils today that was present before chemical fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals came to prominence.

We have a responsibility to get back to our roots and restore the dirt we have back to the status of soil. This restoration comes with us making deliberate choices to eat only foods grown the right way. Foods we know are not contaminated by chemicals but are organically grown the right way. The dominance of chemical fertilizers and pesticides only continues because we continued to offer a market for crops grown the wrong way. Deny these unhealthy products a market, and only food grown the right way will prevail. Our power to buy the right products is a choice for the right way of growing crops and living. As we charter the way forward to a green future at the on-going COP 28, let us not forget to safeguard and secure our soils through sustainable farming practices and life choices in all areas of our lives. At the core of ecosystem restoration must be soil restoration.