One gram of soil (a quarter of a tablespoon) can harbour up to 10 billion organisms – that’s more than the number of people living on the planet!
Only about 1% of the microorganisms found in soil have been identified so far – our soils are one of the largest reservoirs of microbial diversity on Earth; this includes many single-celled organisms, such as bacteria and archaea, as well as certain fungi too. There’s so much about the organisms that live in our soils that we still don’t understand, and many think that further research could lead to important developments in agricultural, medical and climate sciences.
95% of food production relies on the soil – healthy topsoil is vital to our existence on this planet, but we are losing topsoil at an alarming rate – between 10 and 40 times faster than it’s formed.
Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere, and all of the world’s plants and forests combined, which means that soil is one of our most important weapons in the fight against climate change!
*(https://www.soilassociation.org/causes-campaigns/save-our-soil/10-soil-facts/)