Healthy soils: essential for food and wildlife

This Sunday marked World Soil Day; providing us an opportunity to recognise the important role soil plays in a healthy environment and therefore a healthy life – and to do what we can to support its sustainable management. From locking up carbon from the atmosphere to growing our food, the need for good management of our soils has long been something The Wildlife Trusts, and our friends at Jordans, have advocated for.

Recently, a new Agriculture Act was passed in England, which indicated that the Government was looking to make positive changes in how we support farmers to do this – but early signs are that the long-awaited schemes to reward farmers for managing their land more sustainably are not living up to expectations, putting the onus back on individual farmers wanting to play their part or the brands that source the ingredients for our meals.

For several years now, the Jordans Farm Partnership between Jordans and The Wildlife Trusts has been demonstrating how farmers can produce food in a way that helps to tackle the nature and climate crises, with countless species benefitting from barn owls to yellowhammers, as well as of course the soil that Jordans’ crops are grown on. Polly Rattue, Sustainability Brand Manager at Jordans shares here why that is important to them:

“Climate change is quite rightly high on the global agenda. However, while much of the conversation centres on atmospheric carbon, the importance of soil in combatting climate change can be overlooked. Healthy soils can store carbon safely underground, with some soils having a greater capacity to store carbon than others, but all having an important role to play.

“In the UK, 70% of the land is farmed, so the way in which this farmland is managed has a great impact on nature and climate. Soil is also the essence of a sustainable food supply – if we destroy our soils, we destroy our ability to grow food. And farming in a nature-friendly way is even more important now, as indicators suggest that soil structure is being affected by rising temperatures, leading to the release of more carbon into the atmosphere.

“At Jordans we have a long history of working with committed farmers to support wildlife. The Jordans Farm Partnership, founded in 2016, was created to focus on all areas of farm sustainability, from improving soil quality and reducing soil erosion, to creating habitats for wildlife and reducing carbon emissions.

“By working with LEAF and The Wildlife Trusts to create a holistic model linked directly to our supply chain we have supported growers to help our soil recover, protecting over 4,000 hectares – roughly the same size as Oxford! Healthy soil is at the heart of the Jordan Farm Partnership’s success, and it is essential that farmland across the UK works in harmony with our precious soils.”