Save our soils: why dirt matters

The next time you bite into an apple, spare a thought for the soils that helped produce it. Soils play a vital role, not just in an apple’s growth, but in our own health too.

Yes, soil matters!

The formation of soil, pedogenesis, is a very slow process. It can take up to anywhere from a few years to a 1,000 years to form one millimetre of soil.

But with soils around the world under threat, we’re in danger of losing their health benefits faster than they are replaced.

Read the Pursuit article - “Save our soils: why dirt matters.”

How healthy soils make for a healthy life

The next time you bite into an apple, spare a thought for the soils that helped to produce it. Soils play a vital role, not just in an apple’s growth, but in our own health too.

Soil can be replaced in just a few
years or take an entire millennium.

The formation of soil, pedogenesis, is a very slow process. Creating one millimetre of soil coverage can take anything from a few years to an entire millennium.

But with soils around the world under threat, we’re in danger of losing their health benefits faster than they are replaced.

Read the piece on The Conversation by a Professor from the University of Melbourne, Deli Chen, and a research fellow, also from University of Melbourne, Ee Ling Ng  - “How healthy soils make for a healthy life.”