“The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), the apex continental technical institution responsible for coordinating and advocating for agricultural research and development initiatives, shared its experiences during a side event at the Africa Union Pavilion during the ongoing Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The event focused on the urgent need to accelerate action in promoting soil health as a crucial strategy for addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation.”

Read the full story by Oluwole Fatunbi (FARA)

At the Africa Food Systems Forum, CA4SH called upon the global community to recognize soil as the common thread weaving through complex challenges such as food and nutrition security, poverty reduction, climate change, and biodiversity loss.

Bringing together stakeholders representing the private sector, NGOs, academia, governments and more, CA4SH contributed to three events at the Africa Food Systems Forum (AGRF) between 4th and 5th September to discuss what scaling soil health looks like, and the vision for Africa’s soils we are working steadily towards.

Setting record attendance for the event, the Argentine No-till Farmers Association (Aapresid) XXXI edition of its annual “C, a life element” Congress gathered renowned national and international mentors and professionals from the farming sector. Led by companies and agricultural producers, more than 7800 people from all around Argentina, and the World showed their enthusiasm for healthy soil and food systems.

Rangelands cover about half of the Earth’s land surface, store between 10 and 30% of terrestrial carbon, and support over 2 billion people, yet they are under-recognized and under-valued and have been largely ignored in sustainable development agendas and climate negotiations.

On 21 August 2023, CA4SH joined CIFOR-ICRAF, Focali, IGAD, SIWI, SLU, University of Nairobi, and WWF at the 2023 World Water Week organized by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) in a virtual session to discuss water-smart rangeland restoration.

Meet Survivor Aid; a youth-led NGO based in South Sudan who are working to empower smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable farming methods that are good for people and the planet.

“A recent study has found that more than half of Earth's species live in the soil, with the study finding it was the world's most biodiverse habitat.

The importance of healthy soil around the world was the focus of a panel chaired by Tania Strauss, the World Economic Forum’s Head of Food and Water, at the Forum’s 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) in Tianjin, People’s Republic of China.”

Read the full story from the World Economic Forum

Emphasizing the critical need for sustainable farming practices, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) and SNV held a side event on the second day of the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktaking Moment titled “From the soil up: How can agroecology and regenerative agriculture transform food systems.”

BY GONZALO MUÑOZ, HIGH-LEVEL CHAMPION FOR COP25

Farmers and fisherfolk, cities, businesses, financial institutions, and civil society are taking action to transform our food systems. The UN Food Systems Summit+2 (UNFSS+2) in Rome is set to measure and accelerate progress, marking a pivotal moment before COP28. Gonzalo Munoz, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP25, underscores the urgency to scale food systems action to achieve food and nutrition security, as a solution to deliver climate mitigation and adaptation, and protect and restore our natural world. He outlines how non-state actors can play a catalytic role towards more sustainable and resilient food systems.

On 24 July, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), the Agroecology Coalition, the Coalition of Action on Healthy Diets from Sustainable FS for Children and All (HDSFS), and the Food is Never Waste Coalition convened an official side event at the UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS STM+2) to discuss the link between agroecology, soil health and nutrition for all.

“This June, International Biochar Initiative (IBI) launched the inaugural Biochar Academy: an in-person and online learning project modeling a train-the-trainers education approach to develop a global biochar workforce.

The IBI Biochar Academy provides direct training for farmers, agriculture extension agents, policymakers, climate-smart agriculture organizational staff, climate project developers, and researchers interested in practical knowledge.”

“July 3 - Summer marks a nervous time for Europe’s winemakers. The vines have flowered, the pollinated blooms have dispersed and the onset of ripening (la véraison) has already begun. The fate of the harvest now rests on the weather: the better the sun, the fatter their final fruit.

Adding to their nerves is confusion over an upcoming vote in the European Parliament over soil protection. A leaked draft of the EU Soil Health Law, which is due to be released by the European Commission on Wednesday, suggests that EU policymakers have rowed back on calls by progressive businesses and environmentalists to introduce binding obligations on companies.”

Read the original story from Reuters

Gladys Foliyamu is a smallholder farmer in Malawi who has increased her household food security and income opportunities through home gardening. Gladys is supported by the NEVAM project from Agri-Impact Malawi who advocate for making the most of available land through sustainable farming practices.

Co-organizers of the dialogue on soil health – the Parliamentary Committee for the Development of Family Farms of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, Mateusz Ciasnocha and the European Carbon Farmers – inform about the success of the policy event which took place at the Parliament of the Republic of Poland on Wednesday, 28 June 2023. The event was titled Soil health as critical for the health of farms, the health of the society and the health of the homeland and brought together a multitude of stakeholders to discuss the European Mission for Soil Health and its relevance in Poland.

The first Northern European Regional Meeting of the international 4 per 1000 Initiative took place in Helsinki, Finland from 6-8 June 2023. It was mainly and greatly organized by the Baltic Sea Action Group.

On 15 June, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) together with the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS), and the International “4 per 1000” Initiative, supported by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), hosted a policy dialogue luncheon at the culmination of the 58th session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SBs) in Bonn, Germany.

On 15 May, the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) convened a network session to discuss the potential the Soil Health Resolution offers for transforming food systems as per their objectives. NFP is a consortium of initiatives by Dutch organizations and partners from Low and Middle-Income Countries working towards food and nutrition security and achieving SDG2 by 2030. With soil serving as the very foundation of food systems, scaling soil health is a major part of their remit.

betterSoil for a better world is an organisation dedicated to scaling soil health globally. Chairperson and founder, Azadeh Farajpour, shares critical insight into why this mission is so important. This video was shared as part of the betterSoil intervention at the May 2023 ChangeNOW conference in Paris, France.

“West Africa fertilizer policy decision-makers and experts issued an official Ministerial Declaration on Fertilizer and Soil Health in West Africa at the close of a high-level round table organized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with technical and funding support by IFDC’s Feed the Future EnGRAIS project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the World Bank, respectively.”

Aisha Hassan and Lukas Paltanavičius are cycling across the world to learn hands-on about practices of regenerative agriculture. In this guest article on the Furrow, they uncover how regenerative agriculture helps to increase biodiversity.