What we Waste When we Waste Food: Soil

We’ve all kicked up dirt or gotten mud caked on our shoes in the days after a heavy rain. But what is the stuff really, and is it the same as soil, that big elusive thing that grows the majority of the world’s food? To be blunt, it isn’t at all. That dirt that winds up in the crevices of your shoes or in the tires of your car is dead. Soil is very much alive. We spoke with soil expert and Executive Director of Zero Foodprint, Karen Leibowitz, who characterizes soil as “full of life - from microorganisms to fungi to plants to worms and more.” She goes on to explain that all of that life begets life, “making nutrients available to plants, holding water like a sponge, and pulling carbon out of the atmosphere.” Not only does soil support all of this life under the ground, but also all of our life above ground by growing and enriching our food. Its health is crucial to our planet’s health, to our health, to the future viability of life in all its splendid forms. And this life force is disappearing. The United Nations predicts that if drastic overhauls are not made, 60 years from now there will no longer be any topsoil suitable for agriculture. 

Soil erosion has always been a part of natural environmental change due to cycles of wind and rainfall, but the state of this erosion is worsening as climate change disrupts the state of these cycles and causes extreme weather events to become more common. The erosion is further exacerbated by intensive agriculture’s focus on high yields at all costs and continued use of harmful pesticides to reach that goal. Think of all that we are squandering when one third of these yields go to waste in the hands of consumers. In the last 50 to 100 years, we have begun to kill, with alarming swiftness, this living entity that sustains us all. Take for example Iowa, a historically fertile expanse that has supplied us with massive quantities of corn, soybeans and oats for almost 200 years. At the start of the 20th century, the average topsoil depth in Iowa was 14-18 inches. By century’s end, the average depth was 6-8 inches. Scientists have confirmed that this rapid degradation is due both to intensive agriculture and to drastic changes in rain patterns due to climate change. We don’t have the luxury to wait and see what will happen at the end of this current century; according to the FAO, it takes about 1,000 years to generate just over one inch of topsoil. The organization has also reported that “the global amount of arable and productive land per person will be only a quarter of the level in 1960” if we don’t take serious action now. So rather than despairing at these grim-sounding facts (there is no time for that), we need to be proactive and fierce in our problem-solving of this crucial issue. Fortunately, we have strong-willed and brilliant people working towards lasting solutions to maintain healthy soil around the world. 

Karen Leibowitz is not only the ED of Zero Foodprint, but also of its parent nonprofit, the Perennial Farming Initiative; a project of the nonprofit is their Healthy Soil Guide, which highlights farmers with the best and healthiest soil (the most alive you might say), in order to point consumers to them. Leibowitz emphasized that recently “[they’ve] been putting more energy into funding the implementation of soil building practices”. This second part is a crucial undertaking - the more farmers who have the support to build up their soil health, the more farmers we have growing the most nutritious food possible, and the more soil we have storing carbon within its ecosystem instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Another exciting project that PFI has been integral in implementing is Restore California, a fund to implement agricultural practices that build healthy soil, which draws on a 1% surcharge restaurants in California can add to their checks (and that consumers may opt out of paying on request). The Restore California fund uses that money to provide financial support as a farm transitions to renewable farming. In addition to her own impressive projects, Leibowitz also emphasized that there is a long history in the United States of taking action to protect and preserve our soil, and that this is something that should energize us and give us hope that policy precedent may be on our side. 

During the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, when uncharacteristic and violent wind storms led to massive levels of erosion, the Soil Conservation Service (now the National Resources Conservation Service) was formed and Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, which states, “the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm, grazing, and forest lands…is a menace to the national welfare.” That statement certainly holds true today, except it should include the global welfare. Forty percent of the Earth’s land is used for agriculture, with much of the rest used for grazing and as host to our massive (and still expanding) urban centers. That is to say there is not some miracle extra land waiting for us to use; in fact the FAO estimates that one third of the world’s soil is now highly degraded, perhaps beyond repair. This erosion decreases agricultural productivity and means there is less soil to sequester carbon and to store water. While some level of erosion is natural, today’s policy makers and lobbyists should take heed of when the Soil Conservation Service was founded; the Dust Bowl was a period of years characterized by abnormal wind and rain patterns that greatly increased erosion rates. With each passing year we’re heading into a time of ever more unpredictable climate patterns that have, as previously mentioned, already increased the rate of erosion. 

A final angle of approach to solving our soil problem is the proliferation of perennial crops rather than annual ones. The Land Institute, a nonprofit research organization based in Kansas, has been hard at work to perfect and mainstream perennial crops. The distinction is in the name: annual crops are planted, bloom and die, in the span of one year, whereas perennial crops need not be replanted each year. Because annual crops need to be reseeded and replanted every year, they require plowing and herbicide application (organic or otherwise), both of which are processes that degrade the soil. Put simply and in context of their greater role in addressing the worldwide degradation of soil, “Perennial crops are robust; they protect soil from erosion and improve soil structure.” The Land Institute is working on breeding successful perennials through their own research and trials, as well as through funding awarded to a Dr. Fengyi Hu to work on reviving perennial rice breeding in the Yunnan Province of China. The Institute has had a lot of success in partnering with independent restaurants and breweries to utilize Kernza in their products, but they continue to work hard to ensure that Kernza becomes a mainstream grain that farmers grow and producers want to buy to incorporate into their foods.  

As Leibowitz shared with us, there are lots of projects and points of progress in the battle against soil erosion about which we can be hopeful. These innovative solutions are moving us away from the dire predictions proffered by the UN and the FAO - those predictions leave room for the possibility of a shift in the way we farm. If we can alter the state of things, we can improve global soil health and reset the course we’re on. How can we as consumers support this movement? Use these resources! It’s an incredible privilege to have the time and resources to know where your food comes from; if you’re so fortunate, vote with your dollar and your time. Something that’s even simpler that can start right now is to be more cognizant of how we treat food that’s already in front of us. Prepare it thoughtfully, use every last bit of it, enjoy your leftovers or share them with a friend. Think of the beautiful, thriving, living organism that brought your food to be; to honor its work and its life, don’t waste all that it grew for you.