Summary
This policy-informed narrative review, synthesising outputs from a Food & Farming Futures workshop, examines interconnections between soil health—particularly soil organic carbon—and agricultural productivity within a UK context. The authors identify six primary co-benefits of improved soil management and characterise critical research challenges and implementation barriers, arguing that knowledge exchange, soil monitoring, and robust reporting and verification systems are essential to realising improved soil management by 2050.
UK applicability
This review is directly applicable to UK policy and practice, having been developed through a UK-based charity workshop and informed by UK research institutions (University of Aberdeen, Rothamsted Research). The findings address the UK's specific capacity to improve soil health and set implementation priorities aligned with the 2050 timeframe relevant to UK agricultural and climate policy.
Key measures
Co-benefits taxonomy (environmental, economic, social, political); research challenges and implementation barriers for soil management; soil organic carbon; agricultural productivity metrics; climate change mitigation potential
Outcomes reported
The narrative review identified six primary co-benefits of improved soil management spanning environmental, economic, social and political domains, including natural capital development, climate change mitigation, carbon trading, crop yield improvements, animal performance, and human nutritional health. The authors characterised key research challenges and implementation barriers, emphasising the role of soil monitoring, reporting and verification in achieving improved soil management by 2050.
Topic tags
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