Oh, yes, indeed. "Peak soil: unless we act now the very ground beneath us will die" - so says the Soil Association's Helen Browning. And we reckon she's spot on. As she says, "As a farmer, my foremost responsibility is to protect and enhance the soil in my care. It can take more than 500 years to generate an inch of soil, yet our farming activity can erode or degrade it in a decade or two if we are not careful. Even as an organic farmer, where the system is designed to protect and build soils, I’m aware that the move to bigger machinery, the need to cultivate and plough to control weeds, and our seemingly ever more volatile weather can put soils at risk." She remind usthat "trees are incredibly important when it comes to protecting soil" and so urges us to take action such as to "develop more agroforestry systems (mixtures of productive trees or shrubs and crops), so we have the yield, biodiversity and soil protection benefits of many more trees in our landscape" and say that "We also need to start doing more of other things, such as experimenting with growing perennial crops and trees, and recycling sewage sludge safely back to soils"....well, she's got our vote. Check out her full article on the splendid FORKED website: http://forkedmagazine.org/2013/11/08/peak-soil-unless-we-act-now-the-very-ground-beneath-us-will-wither-and-die/
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