New Report Reveals Crucial Links Between Soil Quality and Human Health, Calls For Global Action

A comprehensive new analysis by the Save Soil movement reveals the profound connections between soil health and human physical and mental wellbeing, underscoring the urgent need for global attention to soil degradation.

—

The new report highlights the direct and indirect pathways through which soil health influences various aspects of human life, including nutrition, mental health and overall quality of life.

Save Soil (an advocacy and awareness campaign from Conscious Planet) is backed by the UNEP, UNCCD, UNFAO, WFP and IUCN, and is calling for dedicated soil policies in the UK and across the globe to secure soil health.

Ahead of COP29, the movement is also calling for soil regeneration to be recognized as a public health priority. “We greatly support the progress made by the Environment Land Management Scheme and Sustainable Farming Incentive, and hope that the new Labour government takes this further by creating a dedicated soil health policy that incentivises farmers to increase their soil organic matter,” said Praveena Sridhar, Chief Technical Officer of Save Soil, lead author on the analysis. “This will ensure citizens have a greater chance of reaping these various health benefits.”

Key Findings

• Nutritional Quality and Malnourishment: The analysis reveals that soil rich in organic matter (SOM) leads to higher crop yields and better nutritional quality in food. The study warns that the ongoing decline in soil health is directly contributing to nutritional loss in food (protein content in wheat decreased by 23% from 1955 to 2016). Nutrient-dense foods also support the gut microbiome, which plays a crucial role in regulating mood, immune function, and overall mental and physical health.
  
• Physical touch with soil can improve gut health: Humans share many of the same bacterial groups as soil, and studies have shown that the amount of human contact with the soil positively affects the diversity of the human gut microbiota and gut health.
  
• Soil degradation is therefore accelerating global malnutrition, particularly “hidden hunger,” when the quality of food does not meet nutritional requirements. The analysis outlines that hidden hunger affects more than 50% of children under five and 66% of women worldwide.
  
• Mental Health: Healthy soils support the production of nutrient-rich foods that are essential for mental health. The report highlights that deficiencies in key micronutrients such as B1, B6 and B9 – often caused by poor soil health – are linked to mental health disorders such as depression. Poor soil health is also related to Magnesium, Iron and Zinc deficiencies which relate proper neurological functioning. The findings stress the importance of maintaining healthy soils to support mental wellbeing through a balanced diet. The connection between our gut biome and our production of serotonin and dopamine has been well established.
  
• Ecosystem Services and Living Environments: The analysis underscores that healthy soils are foundational to maintaining clean air, water, and stable climates, all of which contribute to better living environments. The degradation of soils leads to urban heat islands, poor air quality, and increased vulnerability to natural disasters, directly impacting community resilience and public health.
  
• Farmer Wellbeing: The report sheds light on the critical connection between soil health and the mental health of farmers, who are often the most directly affected by soil degradation. With higher suicide rates among farmers globally (studies from across the India, Sri Lanka, USA, Canada, England and Australia show greater suicide rates than the general population), Save Soil’s analysis suggests that improving soil health can alleviate some of the economic and environmental stresses that contribute to this crisis.

More on the topic: Why 2024 Is a Pivotal Year for Our Soil

Call to Action

The report calls for immediate and coordinated action from governments, farmers, and communities worldwide to implement sustainable soil management practices. These include increasing soil organic matter to a minimum 3-6% based on regional conditions, reducing chemical inputs, and promoting regenerative agriculture to ensure that soils remain fertile and supportive of human health.

Speaking to Save Soil, Dr Simon Jeffrey, a leading soil scientists at the Harper Adams University, added: “Healthy soils are literally vital to our health and survival. We get the vast majority of our calories and nutrients from the soil. Healthy soils produce better, more resilient crops.”

“The continued conversation linking healthy nutrient dense food to the health of the human and looking at food as health care rather than calories is critical to this topic. Healthy food can only be produced in a living soil, which in turn leads to a health environment and ultimately the link between soil, food, human can be regarded as the real Natural Health Service,” added Ben Taylor-Davies, a regenerative farmer known as “Regen Ben” based at Townsend Farm in Ross On Wye, England.