The unseen allies driving 95 per cent of our food production

Nature · Published 2 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Beneath your feet lies a dynamic, living system that stores more carbon than the world's forests. While we often view soil as an inert medium, it is actually a complex web of microbes that control roughly 80 per cent of nutrient functions. Understanding this subterranean world is the key to climate mitigation.

Soil health is moving away from the old 'soil quality' metric, which focused on specific outputs like crop yields or road stability. Instead, modern science views soil as a holistic, self-surviving system. This shift, rooted in the work of biologists like Dr. Otto Buess, emphasizes the 'health' of the soil's biological, chemical, and physical properties working in concert to resist degradation and maintain nutrient, carbon, and water cycling.

At the heart of this system are microbes. In temperate grasslands, bacterial and fungal biomass can reach 1–2 tonnes and 2–5 tonnes per hectare, respectively. These organisms are not just residents; they are engineers. They produce extracellular polymers (EPS) to modify soil structure and create stable aggregates. By using biostimulants—organic amendments containing nitrogen from amino acids and carbon from sugars—gardeners can essentially provide energy for these microbes to thrive, mimicking the natural exudates released by plant roots.

Current research, such as the RHS Soil Health Project launched in 2025, is investigating how specific gardening choices impact long-term sustainability. For example, scientists are comparing 'carbon saving' lawn mixes, which reduce mowing frequency and fossil fuel use, against 'carbon pumping' mixes designed to maximize carbon inputs into the soil. While living plants improve soil more slowly and may not show measurable changes in the first few years, they are vital for long-term stability and carbon storage.

The stakes are global. Healthy soils and peatlands are responsible for 95 per cent of our food and are a primary source of many antibiotics. By optimizing soil health through informed planting and the use of organic materials like biochar or grass clippings, we can increase our 'handprint'—our positive environmental impact—while reducing the 'footprint' of intensive agriculture and the need for chemical fertilizers.

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