Farmers must not be left to shoulder responsibility for maintaining healthy soil post-Brexit, according to a panel of experts from farming, business and academia.

From flood prevention and biodiversity to food production and carbon sequestration, soils play a key role.

Dr Jess Davies, Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University and lead editor of a landmark report on The Business Case for Investing in Soil Healthjoineda panel of experts from farming, business and academia at a Parliamentary event hosted today by Rebecca Pow MP (Taunton Deane) and the Sustainable Soils Alliance.

They called on Government to include Healthy Soils in the environmental services that benefit from public funds after Brexit and said the issue can’t be left to individual farmers to manage without support.

Dr Davies said: “Our report demonstrates that businesses the world over recognise the importance and urgency of investing in soil health – whether it’s for boosting climate resilience or meeting climate commitments, reducing water risks and protecting biodiversity, or supporting livelihoods in the value chain.

Increasingly businesses are ready to play their part, but successful investment in soil health needs partnership across sectors.

There are examples emerging of new blended financing options that aim to deliver sustainable soil management such as the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund spearheaded by the UNCCD, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Governments of France, Luxembourg and Norway. It’s critical that private and public sectors work together to bring investment to scale.”

The event The Economics of Soil: Private Asset or Public Good? examined how soil sits on the balance sheet of the farmer (through input costs and losses in productivity) and society (through climate change targets, flood risk management, biodiversity loss and food security).

• Degraded soil represents a significant cost to farmers, but a far greater one to society as a whole – through increasing flood risk, food insecurity, biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions.

• 80% of costs associated with degraded soils occur off-site and so are either invisible or of limited concern to those whose actions may be causing them.

• The government has a target of sustainably-managed soils by 2030, but neither the Agriculture Bill nor the Environment Bills give soil health the tangible commitment it needs.

• Business has a critical role to play in promoting soil health – but only government investment can drive the necessary change at scale.

• Government Ministers Liz Truss and Greg Clark, and the Chair of the Environment Agency, Emma Howard Boyd, were among the speakers at the event.

Professor Joe Morris of Cranfield University, co-author of one of the seminal publications on the subject, The total costs of soil degradation in England and Wales, alsospoke at the event. He explained:

“Quantifiable soil degradation costs from erosion, compaction and carbon loss in England and Wales add up to over £1.4 bn per year - and yet these costs are not always apparent to those people who are, often inadvertently, causing them. This disconnect represents a fundamental failure of the market and soil governance and is a clear justification for government intervention and investment.”

Host of the event and Champion of the Sustainable Soils Alliance, MP for Taunton Deane Rebecca Pow, echoed the call for soil’s economic value to be better understood:

“In last week’s Spring Statement, the Chancellor recognised for the first time the link between the decline in biodiversity and the UK economy, something that I have been pressing for for some time. Healthy soils are a vital source of biodiversity, alongside other environmental benefits, and so the next important step is to realise their economic value and the cost to the economy of not caring for them. Soil degradation in England and Wales currently costs us £1.4bn per year and this must be addressed. This event is an important step in progressing this issue.”

Dr Toby Willison, Executive Director, Environment Agency added:

“We depend far more on soils than we appreciate. Soils sustain food production, support habitats, reduce flood risk and hold a huge biodiversity resource. We need to all work together to better preserve and enhance this invaluable resource.”

Sue Pritchard, Director of the RSA Food Farming and Countryside Commission, addressed the question of how to establish a value for soil health that might be applied across government:

“Whilst there is clearly increasing appreciation and welcome agreement about the value of soils and soil health, there is nonetheless a risk that practical action will become lost in debates between different departments’ policy priorities. The Public Value Framework is a potential route through to focus on getting something done - and quickly.”