Book review: Soil. The incredible story of what keeps the earth, and us, healthy
By Matthew Evans
Soil is the story of how dirt makes us and can break us and how we are all responsible for protecting this finite resource.
Matthew Evans is an ex-food critic, former chef by trade and environmentalist. Living on his farm in the Australian state of Tasmania, Evans likes to explore in his books the entire food chain; from seed to dish. In his latest book, Soil, he looks at the largely overlooked key role that soil has in food yields, flavour and nutrition, our environment, and much more. Evans warns both of the devastating impact of our current rate of soil loss and makes a plea to everyone to preserve what we have left and to act to create new soil.
In this very readable book, Evans is able to get across to readers his key message that soil is not mere dirt, or inert material, but a living ecosystem created by the actions of microorganisms, nematodes, fungi and decay. Good soil teems with life, making a mix of nutrients and trace elements that are vital to plants. In Soil he examines how we have constantly undervalued and misunderstood soil, and how if we value tasty nutritious food we must start to love and value our precious topsoil more.
Soil offers many interesting insights. For example, he highlights the key role earthworms play in creating soil and that there are more than 6,000 species of earthworms and up to 7 million worms live in each hectare in healthy soil. Another revealing fact is that there are more living things in a single teaspoon of healthy soil than there are humans on Earth.
Evans looks to get across is the key role soil plays across a range of ecological systems and as a result is vital for life on our planet. Our soil balances the minerals and proteins in our plants for example and he uncovers research on diverse subjects such as value of soil for micro and macro nutrients, chemical transfer, carbon cycles, the atmosphere and rainfall, and even upon our mood.
Soil is aimed at all of us and how we can make a difference to help regenerate our soil resource. For example, he urges us to look beyond the industrialised food chain which favours the production of bulky blemish-less vegetables. This good-looking food requires the widespread use of artificial fertilisers, insecticides and herbicides, plant selection for size, and the impact of monocultural agriculture (including tilling) has had, and continues to have, a devastating effect on our soil. An industrialized agriculture approach often means that our food lacks flavour and has more calories and less micronutrients than the homegrown products of previous generations.
To change this dynamic Evans emphasises the need to work more organically on a smaller scale and ensure plant diversity. Evans focusing on the importance of the successful cycling of organic matter and getting back to basics versus hoping that new technologies, like hydroponics, will somehow save the day.
European-based farming systems employed over the past 10,000 to 12,000 years have consistently turned arable soils into desert. But if we want soil that resembles the ideal composition of chocolate cake, we need to give our soil more care and respect. Soil highlights that humans can improve topsoil by amending it; bringing in carbon, things that are rotted, compost, perhaps a little topsoil you can actually build soil in a way that is much faster than nature.
Evans also advocates that we should all be growing more of our own food. He mentions that people often belittle home gardeners, saying they can't feed the world, but we can feed a lot of people with home gardens - more than a billion people around the tropics feed themselves from their domestic gardens.
It is clear that soil does have an image problem and part of the mission of Soil has been to make soil at least interesting and relevant to our lives and wellbeing.
“I’d like everyone to get excited about soil as I am. I want everyone to shed the world above ground for a while to see the world from the ground up, to feel the astonishment of witnessing where the overwhelming majority of life on Earth starts and ends.”
"Until we care about soil, until we know its stories, we're not going to do anything to improve its fate”. - Matthew Evans
In summary, Soil has opened up my eyes and changed the way I think about our garden, compost, the food I eat and even what I buy at the supermarket. It is also clear that protecting and enhancing our soil offers numerous positive benefits for a more sustainable way of life, which go well beyond farming and growing food. Soil is well worth a read by everyone who cares for the future of life on our planet.
Black Teal Bay Rating: 8/10
