Greg Georgaklis
February 26, 2021
I heard a report today on the radio about the amount of soil we have lost in the Midwest. The estimate: one third! What remains, primarily on hilltops, is subsoil—or soil that is so lacking in organic matter that it cannot grow quality food or crops. It is, for the purposes of agriculture, dead.
Soil is directly associated with our health and the planet’s health. It moderates surface temperature, absorbs precipitation, and provides structure and a home for the trillions of microbiota that feed and nourish us. Healthy topsoil is also a massive carbon sink—meaning it can sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide—and therefore carries great potential for climate change mitigation.