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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Fiona Harvey Environment editor

European and British soils seriously degraded by intensive farming

A large harvesting machine moves through a field of wheat under a cloudy, but sunny sky
The degradation of soil worsens the impact of flooding and damages the environment, since healthy soils store more carbon. Photograph: David Wootton/Alamy

More than 60% of the EU’s agricultural soils are degraded due to intensive agriculture, with similar damage to about 40% of British soils, a report has found.

Experts from the Save Soil initiative said nourishing and restoring agricultural soils could reduce the impact of the climate crisis and provide protection against the worsening extremes of weather, as well as the food shortages and price rises likely to accompany them.

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