18 October

Peers have called on the UK government to compensate farmers for their role in flood management, highlighting the importance of soil management in effective flood mitigation. These calls came during a House of Lords debate where peers also called on the government to roll out the flood funds promised in January this year.

A coalition of agricultural groups has warned Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of the potential loss of permanent pastures - one of England’s most important carbon sinks. This may result from incentivising farmers to remove carbon-rich pastures, which account for 40% of land in England, for higher-paying options under the SFI scheme.

New research has indicated that soil enhanced with organic fertilisers has a higher carbon sequestration capacity than soil that received either chemical fertiliser or no fertiliser. This is due to the higher mineral content in organic fertilisers, which increases the microaggregates for soil carbon preservation.

Barclays’ recent paper on the UK’s Biodiversity Net Gain scheme outlines some structural barriers to farmers’ participation in nature markets. The paper then suggests two policy change recommendations which will support the delivery of a high-integrity market for carbon sequestration and biodiversity.

Reports have shown that in 2023 forest, plants, and soil absorbed no more carbon than they released, highlighting the fragility of Earth's land carbon sinks. Scientists warn that rising temperatures could accelerate carbon emissions from soils, the Earth's second-largest carbon store, by up to 40% by the century's end.

Soil Association Certification has recently reported that the market for organic food market is growing at a quicker rate than non-organic food. This comes a year on from the launch of ‘Organic For All’ – an ambitious new approach for scaling organic food production and consumption in the UK.

Six Inches of Soil have announced their new podcast series by the same name. Launched on World Food Day this Wednesday, the first episode includes presenter Richard Tufton interviewing various panel guests on soil, regenerative agriculture, food systems change, and much more.