Soil Degradation: The Biggest Threat to Our Food Security

Why we have to Save Soil now!

When thinking about the most important necessities that we need to ensure our survival, one of the first things that comes to mind is food. The FAO states that 95% of our food comes directly or indirectly from the soil on which we graze our livestock and grow our crops. Usually, we take both the abundance of food in many parts of the world (as well as the miraculous process of soil turning into food!) for granted. However, history shows that the unsustainable management of the invaluable source of our nourishment can lead to catastrophic outcomes. As David Montgomery highlights in his book "Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations," the collapse of civilizations, from ancient Greece and China to Mesopotamia and the Roman Empire, has often been preceded by soil degradation and erosion. The loss of fertile topsoil, Montgomery argues, has been a silent driver of societal decline, undermining agricultural productivity and food security. This pattern repeats itself throughout history, demonstrating the critical link between soil health and human well-being. By neglecting soil conservation and sustainable practices, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past, threatening the food systems as the very foundation of our now global civilisation.

Soil Degradation: The Biggest Threat to Our Food Security

According to the FAO, 52% of the world's soils today are already degraded. Degraded soils mean less resilience to climate shocks and decreased levels of soil fertility, which increases the need for more expensive artificial fertilzer to keep crop yield levels stable. Today, the critical state of soil degradation is making the global food system less flexible and more input dependent. Not all farmers, especially small-scale and marginalized producers, can afford costly inputs and withstand economic and environmental pressures that threaten food self-sufficiency. Further, given the alarming projections that by 2050 the share of degraded soils could balloon up to 90%, the potential impact on food security in the near future must be urgently examined. 

Every year, desertification and drought alone lead to the loss of 12 million hectares of soil, which could have supported the growth of 20 million tons of grain. Projections suggest that within the next 25 years, land degradation could reduce global food productivity by as much as 12%, resulting in a 30% increase in world food prices. As the global population is projected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, the demand for food will intensify. To meet the needs of a growing population, much of the additional food production will have to come from intensifying the cultivation of already ‘used’ lands. This may necessitate converting forests, wetlands, and grasslands into arable land, which could further harm biodiversity and disrupt vital ecosystem services. This means that, while we face the pressing need to increase food production, the degradation of land poses a significant barrier to achieving food security. An additional challenge is that anthropogenic warming has led to shifts in climate zones. Ecosystems will face more extreme temperatures and rainfall beyond their current adaptations. Their structure, composition, and functioning may be significantly altered which leads to additional challenges which former generations did not have to face.

The main reason why the degradation of soil represents a significant problem is that soil is often classified as a ‘non-renewable resource’ since its recovery can take multiple human generations. According to the FAO, the regeneration of only two to three centimeters can take up to 1000 years. This creates even greater urgency and concern, as there is increased possibility of us approaching a critical threshold of degradation, in which the majority of our soils lose their ability to enable and sustain plant growth. As mentioned before, it is projected that 90% of world soils will be degraded by 2050. When the soil ecosystem gets degraded to a point at which soil fertility as the most significant soil ecosystem service is not functional anymore, the land can be said to have transitioned from soil to sand, in which agriculture becomes practically impossible. 

If we want to divert from this catastrophic trajectory, we need to adjust our agricultural management practices from conventional chemical intensive agriculture towards more sustainable regenerative practices. To achieve this, we need to support farmers when they attempt the transition, and also voice our support to policy makers across the globe - who will only act if their is sufficient awareness across all groups of society about the urgent crisis of soil degradation.