Healthy Soil

The health of our food and therefore the health of people is dependent on the health of the soil. Most of the food we eat has been grown in a fragile layer of topsoil that has been formed over thousands of years. Topsoil is being lost at an ever-increasing rate due to extractive agriculture and forestry practices. Industrialised agriculture, through the use of agrichemicals, overstocking, heavy machinery and a lack of soil cover, is destroying soil structure, causing soil compaction and erosion, and the depletion and loss of soil organic matter and nutrients. Organic agricultural methods, in contrast, use sustainable soil and crop management practices (including species-rich pastures) that work to protect and enhance soil fertility, structure and biological activity in the system.

The Soil & Health Association, as our name suggests, believes in restoring soils for the production of healthy food, therefore healthy people and a healthy earth.

We support organic agriculture and farming systems that foster soil health and produce healthy and nutritious food.

We encourage the use of organic residues and the recycling of biodegradable organic wastes such as manures, green manures, seaweed, and compost.

We encourage the use of minerals in their natural forms as fertilisers to re-establish soil mineral balance and to nourish soil microbes.

We are opposed to the use of synthetic fertilisers.