Digging into why our soil is unhealthy and how we can fix it

As we are discovering the complexity and fragility of healthy soil, the importance of protecting our soils becomes ever clearer

Scientists are only beginning to properly recognise the complexity of soil biota and their essential contribution to life on earth. A 2023 review of existing research, published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that more than half of all the species on earth live in the soil

In the natural world, mid-winter is a time of dormancy and faded, monochromatic colours. Fallen leaves litter the ground; broken twigs are soggy with moisture; and dampness infuses almost everything. The combination of dormancy and dampness create perfect conditions for decay, as summer’s growth is actively subsumed back into the soil, replenishing nutrients as part of the annual cycle of our temperate seasons. This decay is a necessary precursor to the resurgence of fertility and growth in spring.

But this is not a passive process. It is dependent on the activity of a wealth of organisms working away underground, breaking down detritus in to component parts and recycling all the nutrients back in to the soil. Earthworms are the most familiar of these. In Ireland, we have 27 different species of earthworm. They are so abundant in healthy soils that a greater weight of earthworms exists beneath the ground than the combined weight of cattle grazing above ground.