Living soils

Our planet’s remaining fertile soil nurtures and feeds billions of people and other terrestrial life. It is integral to our forests, farms and fresh water systems. Soil hosts more than a quarter of Earth’s biodiversity and supports supply chains from the fashion to the pharmaceutical industry.

But intensive agriculture and production have put a strain on our soils. Through erosion and pollution, we are losing fertile soil faster than nature can replenish it. Our food contains fewer nutrients and our farms grow less productive with each generation of crops. Compounding this is a loss of organic matter and biodiversity in the soil.

What we need is a shift towards practices that bring life back to our soils; to ensure resilient farmers, nutritious food, clean water, and robust natural systems. In this light, we want to partner with governments, businesses, civil society and farmers to drive a shift towards ecologically sound agriculture.

Living Soils Project

Facts

Agricultural soil makes up just over 7% of Earth’s surface and is used to feed our world’s population of almost 8 billion people.

A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded, according to UN-backed research.

Fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24 billion tonnes a year.

Our work

For just under a decade, we have been on the ground in France, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand; listening to farmers' challenges and co-creating solutions. In 2016, our journey in soil began with Sheesham farmers in India - where our teams have engaged over 1,000 farmers since 2011. In partnership with 'soil doctors' Claude and Lydia Bourguignon, we began exploring how to regenerate our soil; eventually working with farmers in France on conservation agriculture. Our efforts revolve around connecting different nodes of the supply chain to scale up soil restoration, as well as developing innovative incentives to transform agricultural practices.