Climate, water, food and health. The world is facing incredibly complex problems - but what if a simple solution was to be found in the ground beneath our feet? In this event we will discover the importance of the soil to sustaining human and planetary health, and hear from some of the world's leading scientists and practitioners, who are helping to revolutionise how we think about agriculture and food.

There are billions of life-forms in every handful of soil, with estimates suggesting that at least a quarter of all species live in - or on it. Without soil there would be no life, so why on earth do we think of it as dirt? Healthy soil traps organic matter while sequestering CO2 - but farming intensively has turned our soil from being a magical substance that maintains life on the planet to something thin and insubstantial that no longer supports life without chemical interventions.

The good news, as we shall see in this session, is that it is possible to regenerate soil in a matter of a few years, and to once again have it working for us: capturing carbon, soaking up water and growing healthier plants to feed our world.

In this special edition of 5x15 hosted in collaboration with Groundswell, we hear from:

Geologist and author David R. Montgomery (author of Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life) who will tell the story of how we got to where we are and present his vision for restoring the soil that feeds us all and turns agriculture into a solution for environmental crises. David is a MacArthur Fellow and professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington. He studies landscape evolution and the effects of geological processes on ecological systems and human societies.

Farmer and author Gabe Brown (featured in the Netflix documentary Kiss the Ground and author of Dirt to Soil) will describe the astonishing journey of his failing farm land and how he transformed a degraded farm ecosystem into one full of life starting with the soil and working his way up, one plant and one animal at a time. Gabe is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement and has been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States.

Scientist Professor Tim Spector (author of the best-seller Spoonfed: Why Almost Everything You Have Been Told About Food is Wrong) will tell us about the new science examining the relationship between health and our gut microbiome and the importance of healthy soil. Tim is bestselling author of The Diet Myth and creator of the COVID Symptom Study app. He is professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London and honorary consultant physician at Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals.

John and Paul Cherry and Joanna Bowen, the founders of Groundswell, will talk about how regenerative systems benefit and transform land in the UK and will demonstrate the difference between degraded and regenerated soil.

About Groundswell

Groundswell is an event is hosted in Hertfordshire each summer, providing a forum for farmers and anyone interested in food production or the environment to learn about the theory and practical applications of conservation agriculture or regenerative systems, including no-till, cover crops and re-introducing livestock into the arable rotation, with a view to improving soil health. Groundswell was founded by the Cherry family on their mixed farm in Hertfordshire. John and Paul Cherry have farmed for thirty one years, converting to a no-till system in 2010.

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