Professor Karen Johnson Presents the 2023 Rosalind Franklin Award Lecture titled ‘ A nation that rebuilds its soils rebuilds itself: the role of women’

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Franklin D. Roosevelt said "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself". He was referring to the American Midwest during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, but also unknowingly foreshadowing what lay ahead.

In the EU, two-thirds of soils are now degraded, while one-third of worldwide soil experiences the issue of degradation. Soil is the biggest store of organic carbon after fossil fuels. By degrading it over the last 70 years through industrialised agriculture, we have ended up in a vicious cycle of climate change causing fire, floods and droughts. These events exacerbate soil degradation and cause more climate change.

Soils are not glamorous but they do underpin all terrestrial life. They don't just feed us, they store water and they store carbon. Soil degradation has happened because we have been treating soil as inanimate. Soil is living. Just like us, soil needs energy and materials to stay alive. But we are killing it. And unless we do things differently and start to care for soil as a living material, we will destroy nations, because we will have food shortages, we will have more floods, more droughts and fire, and we will have more inequality.

Using "waste" materials rich in the carbon and minerals (apostrophes because these materials are not waste to living soil) we can provide the soil microbiome with what it is missing so it can thrive. By working with the soil microbiome and by feeding our soils we can produce healthier plants, healthier animals and have a healthier planet. The role of caring is one that is largely assigned to women but there is a growing consensus that a caring approach can result in environmental, economic and social benefits for all. Working with the soil microbiome to rebuild our soils will help us to deliver net zero, net biodiversity gain, and to improve both human and planetary health.

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