SSA in the Press

By now, you’ll likely have heard that there are microplastics in both the ocean and in humans, too. But how? Why? And since when?

In a post-Brexit world, UK Governments are having to develop their own soil policies, some of which are more formed than others.

Thousand of tonnes of microplastics are being spread to soils - according to the Environment Agency’s latest water and sewerage company assessment.

A global ‘soil extinction’ is threatening to leave billions of people hungry and push the world’s biodiversity into disarray.

There is more plastic in soils than in the sea, a UN body has warned, posing a grave threat to food security, people and the environment.

New UN FAO report highlights the “disastrous” way in which plastic is used in farming is threatening food safety... It says soils contain more microplastic pollution than the oceans...

Three projects have been awarded funding to help develop new carbon markets for regenerative agriculture, saltmarsh restoration and lowland peatlands.

Grant awarded under the Environment Agency’s Investment Readiness Fund to develop a Soil Carbon Code for UK farmers.

According to the Freedom of Information request made by the UK non-profit Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA), the UK government spent only £283,780 on monitoring soil health in England in the year 2017/18.

Write up and photographs from the SSA's fundraising event at Yeo Valley in September appear in the Socials Pages of the latest edition of Somerset Life magazine. 

Recognition of soil’s importance in the Ag Bill is a statement of ambition few other countries can match, but there is more work to do to meet the Government’s target of sustainably managed soils by 2030.

Agriculture Bill revisions bring new focus on soil health. Ministers have tweaked the text of the Bill to emphasise safeguarding and improving soil quality…Comment from the SSA.

Agriculture Bill biggest shake up to farming in 40 years. Specific attention paid to soils was welcome, but more detail is needed on how to implement measures to protect soil health.

SOS - Save our Soils. The health of our soils is increasingly coming under the spotlight… In conversation with the SSA, featuring Yeo Valley and Piper’s Farm.

The UK loses the equivalent of 240,000 double decker buses of soil/year. Soil is the beating heart of life on earth, a vital element that supports the health of people, plants, wildlife, water & air.

The quest to bring soil health to Westminster: the first months of the Sustainable Soils Alliance.

DEFRA could be forced to make a U-turn on its decision not to pay farmers to improve soil health… the Natural Capital Committee said any future ELM scheme should incentivise farmers to reverse soil degradation…

As the majority of farmers know, healthy soils are the key to the achievement of healthy crops and higher yields. It is a fact that for decades has passed politicians by....  Matthew Orman for Waitrose.

Attendees gathered for the Arboricultural Association’s 52nd National Amenity Conference 'Soils & Trees – Standing your Ground' to explore the adverse effects of soil degradation on the health of the tree population. 

SSA Champion Rebecca Pow MP on soil as the bellwether of our farming and environment policy.

UK farmers will be given the first ever targets on soil health: A new bill will mandate  measures to preserve and improve the health of UK soils…

A new bill will be brought before parliament this year mandating, for the first time, measures and targets to preserve and improve the health of the UK’s soils, amid growing concern that we are sleepwalking into a crisis of soil fertility that could destroy our ability to feed ourselves.

Expert stakeholders and campaigners have challenged the government to provide more detail on its ambition to achieve “sustainably managed soils” by 2030 at parliamentary debate.

Speaking at the parliamentary launch of the Sustainable Soils Alliance, Environment Secretary Michael Gove blames intensive farming practices for the loss of soil fertility.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove states that he hopes the SSA, a body formed with the mission of bringing UK soils back to health within a generation, will hold government to account.

Soil health has been catapulted onto government agendas thanks to a parliamentary launch of the new Sustainable Soils Alliance.

The UK has only 40 years of fertile crop growing left because intensive farming is “cutting the ground from beneath" our feet, Michael Gove has warned.

Countries can withstand coups d’état, wars and conflict, even leaving the EU, but no country can withstand the loss of its soil and fertility...

There has been an increasing realisation of the dangers of soil infertility, leading to Michael Gove speaking out: 'We have encouraged a type of farming which has damaged the earth.'

Environment secretary Michael Gove warns UK will see 'fundamental eradication of soil fertility', speaking at the parliamentary launch of the Sustainable Soils Alliance.

The UK has measurable air and water quality standards, but lacks the same benchmarks for soil. Ellen Fay (SSA) explains what is needed to restore soil health.