World Soil Day: 11 transformative soilutions

Today is World Soil Day. I’ve been fascinated by soil for as long as I can remember. Soil health is a key pillar in planetary health. The UN estimates with the current destructive industrialized farming practices we only have 60 harvests left before our top soil is barren and unable to feed the planet. A third of the planet's soil is already acutely degraded and we are losing more than 30 soccer fields of soil every minute due to intensive farming.

The good news is: The Fourth Agricultural Revolution is here.

Fortunately, we already have countless soil, biodiversity and regenerative agriculture solutions. They are being prototyped and scaled in bioregions around the world. There are few areas I’m more excited about than the transformation towards regenerative agriculture and land stewardship. In fact, we kicked off the United Planet Land Stewardship Game in Ibiza on 1st December this week. Soil Health on the island is a major consideration for this league and I’m excited to see what plans emerge around this.

Some of my favourite organizations led by friends of mine and people I respect in this area include:

1. Terramera — By 2030, Terramera aims to feed 1 billion people, reduce global pesticide usage by 80% and double the amount of soil carbon. Led by a brilliant entrepreneur and dear brother of mine, Karn Manhas.
2. Nangu — Solving the limitations of small ecological farms with processing and distribution. Led by a stellar team that have participated in United Planet Games.
3. Ecoversity — An online and offline school dedicated to regenerating our natural world. Founded by the legendary Stephen Brooks.
4. Kiss the Ground — A movement, a must-see film (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3-V1j-zMZw) and an engaged community.
5. Squareroots — Backed by Elon’s brother, Kimbel Musk, Squareroots is bringing local, real food to people in cities around the world while empowering next-gen leaders in urban, indoor farming.
6. The Mushroom Farm — Seated on 753 acres of California Coast, The Mushroom FARM is regenerating the former Campbell’s Soup mushroom production facility into the leading example of localized food, power & water sovereignty & abundance. I have many friends
7. Just Dig It — A foundation tackling desertification. Justdigit makes dry land green again by inspiring and activating farmers in Africa, positively impacting climate change, nature and people.
8. AeroFarms — on a mission to transform agriculture by building and operating environmentally responsible farms throughout the world to enable local production at scale and nourish communities with safe, nutritious, and delicious food. Led by a very talented Young Global Leader friend, David Rosenberg.
9. Plenty — Indoor vertical farming using optimized resources. I have great respect for this San Francisco company that is a World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer with Matt Barnard as the CEO.
10. Arable — A pioneer in decision agriculture, Arable Labs builds affordable tools that help people collect and synthesize site-specific agricultural data.
11. Geonauts — Regenerative agriculture, ecology, economy and community development for Earth, and space. Led by a social entrepreneur and soil pioneer Mackenzie McAleer.

The cover image ‘Back to Soil and Soul’ was one of the Golden memes we shared this year in Davos. I felt it was an appropriate #heartgift for today. See more on the purpose of those memes here: https://luciant.medium.com/the-golden-decade-meme-davos-2030-and-our-emerging-planetary-civilization-88e6a533c7b

More helpful reading:

'It's a groundswell': the farmers fighting to save the Earth's soil

World Soil Day | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations