The Role of Soil Health in Creating Sustainable Food Systems | Harvard University

Ninety-five percent of the world's food is grown in topsoil, but current farming techniques are eroding this soil and stripping it of essential minerals, microbes, and nutrients needed to support human and planetary health. The United Nations has stated that if soil degradation continues, we may only have 60 years of farming left. Loss of topsoil through agricultural practices is a major contributor to water and air quality degradation and biodiversity loss. Replenishing degraded soils may be a critical element in battling burgeoning health crises such as micronutrient deficiencies, obesity, and related diseases. Increasing soil health will also be a critical response to combating and adapting to the climate crisis. Though strong market, political, and social forces perpetuate the status quo, policymakers, agricultural producers, and the general public are taking note and developing, examining, and implementing a wide array of interventions to reverse soil degradation. This course explores the global food system from food production to disposal from the premise that agricultural soil health must underlie any sustainable food system that supports public and planetary health and social equity. We address the current state of agricultural soil health globally and the current and future effects on public and planetary health, including effects on water, air, climate, and nutrition, and social and economic equity. We explore whether adopting sustainable agricultural practices that support and enhance soil health can feed the growing global population while simultaneously buttressing achievement of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, we examine the key interventions put forth to support agricultural soil health, including direct farmer education and subsidies, social movements such as food sovereignty, labeling requirements, corporate initiatives, consumer education, and increased organic waste recycling.