7 ways to build Soil Organic Matter (report)

Seven Ways to Save Our Soils 

The Soil Association is releasing a new document calling on policy makers and farmers to do their bit to protect UK soils. The report outlines seven key ways to increase Soil Organic Matter (SOM) in UK arable and horticultural soils by 20% over the next 20 years. Increasing SOM is not only important for protecting agricultural productivity: healthy soils are also better at locking up carbon, therefore helping mitigate climate change, and are more resilient to both floods and droughts. They are more able to absorb excess rainfall and therefore have the potential to reduce flooding downstream. In turn, these effects all protect land from unpredictable weather events which are increasingly affecting farmers.