This was the catch phrase of Arthur Fallowfield - a colourful character on BBC radio's 'Beyond our Ken' - to anything he was asked.
While we find it difficult to say exactly what sustainable is, his answer could come in a handy to many questions about the change in climate.
95% of all the food we eat is grown in soil
'Soil' is often forgotten or overlooked in the debates about global warming, climate change, food security and sustainability generally. Yet this is probably the most important - and least understood - ingredient.
In the last 20 years, the term 'soil health' has come to the fore, overtaking 'quality', replacing chemistry with biology.
The UK government says: "The importance of soil health is underscored in the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, which states that England’s soils must be managed sustainably by 2030 and steps must be taken towards restoring the UK’s soils. "
Indicator...Measurmenet?
My 'soil health' site
In the last 40 years we have destroyed soil that took 400,000 yrs - 4 million years to build.
Where did that soil come from? I have tried to answer this is my book 'on the Origin of Soils' where I trace the evolution of soil over the past half billion yars - for the first time ever.
'on the Origin of Soils' by Charles Clutterbuck, 5mbooks pub
In the last 10 years, a 'regenerative ' has built up with It 's prime aim to protect the soil
While yields are lower in first couple of years without the chemical hits, the soil communities build up over 3-4 years, so do lots of the work without cost....a wonderful eco-service.
Regenerative practices include:
minimising or avoiding tillage,
eliminating bare soil,
encouraging plant diversity
enabling water percolation,
integrating on-farm livestock and cropping.
I wrote first UK Master's degree in Regenerative, Food, Farming and Enterprise, approved by Plymouth University
Regenerators rave over the role of AMF (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) in a symbiotic relationship with roots, which helps build soils. But how? I consider springtails are the third element, eating the fungi and its glomalin, turning it into GRSPs that help bring organic matter together with minerals - for the last 400 million years. More in my 'Origin of Soils'
The UN has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but not one specically for soils, although many brief mentions in other SDGs.
Towards 18th SDG 'Sustainable Soil System Management'