Soils are the foundation of terrestrial life on earth, providing numerous ecosystem services such as biodiversity support, water storage and filtering, carbon storage, as well as supporting all agriculture. While the importance and living nature of soils is increasingly recognised, human interactions with soil have been problematic and life threatening, leading to extensive land, water and air pollution.
Soils have been conceptually separated from their living nature and reconstructed in global industrial and capitalist views of soil as a non-living resource for human use. This has led to practices that increasingly pollute and degrade soil, necessitating the increasing use of chemical fertilisers to produce food crops and support livestock. However, ‘soil health’ is increasingly visible on research and policy agendas, with growing evidence over the past decades pointing to the importance of soil for nutritious food production, healthy ecosystems and long-term sustainability. Yet, the historical, social and political economy context of soil health is still overlooked particularly with reference to gender and intersectional inequalities and power dynamics.
To address some of these knowledge gaps, research within NRI’s interdisciplinary research theme in Equity, Care and Soils is investigating human-soils relationships in agricultural and urban contexts. Using the emerging concept of soil care as a lens, we study how humans have interacted and perceived soils through time and how power and inequity have shaped these relationships. Our research revolves around three main areas: gender, intersectional equity and soil; colonial history of soil science, and soil care and participatory research, which aim to advance our understanding of soils and human relations towards more holistic soil stewardship and soil health.
Gender, Intersectional Equity and Soils
There is evidence that women both in the ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’ on average are disadvantaged compared to men in their access to land and agricultural inputs, as well as access to quality soils. There are also significant gender differences in how soil mismanagement has impacted our bodies and health. These trends are fuelled and exacerbated by industrial agriculture, mining projects, and other extractive industries. Our research explores these gendered and intersectional dynamics and contributes to current momentum of feminist soil care ethics and practice.
Colonial history of soil science
Soil science is closely linked to research conducted in former colonies throughout the Global South. Fundamental concepts such as Milne's catena - a sequence of soils down a slope - emerged in this context. Despite the scientific and technical importance of colonial and post-colonial soil research, there is still a lack of understanding regarding its impact on local communities.
The NRI archive is an excellent resource for exploring soil-research-policy-community interactions. Collaborating with colleagues from the University of the West Indies (UWI), we are investigating how soil and land use assessments have influenced key agricultural policies and practices in Latin America and the Caribbean from the 1950s to the present. We are utilising the NRI archive, other historical archives, and the latest geographical information systems in our research.
As part of this work, UWI and NRI will facilitate an online workshop titled, “Decolonising Soil Research in the Global South” on 11 December 2024. The workshop will look at the connections between historical and contemporary soil data and meeting the needs of land and agricultural research and practice. (For more details and registration, please click here).
Soil care and participatory research in agriculture
In most countries, farmers are the main stewards of land and soil, and their practices are regularly accused of being the cause of soil degradation. However, what is seldom recognised is that they are also the first to care about the soil in their everyday practice and long-term planning. Their place-based knowledge and experience is valuable and important. We work with farmers in participatory approaches to better understand how they interact and care for their soil, and to co-develop tools for real-time in field soil health assessment.
The research under NRI’s Equity, Care and Soils theme is vital to the evolution of our vision of sustainable soil futures. It is also important for supporting informed decision-making and policy that recognises the living and complex nature of soils and human-soil interactions.