Soil is the single most biodiverse habitat on Earth, home to at least 59% of all species, including over 80% of all fungi and plants. In Colombia, it is also the foundation on which one of our most important industries, farming, depends. Approximately 2,500 smallholder farmers produce 70% of our country’s food, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing collectively account for 9.27% of the country’s GDP.
Yet, despite this ecosystem’s enormous significance to the survival of life on Earth, soil has been widely disregarded and neglected. More than 75% of the world’s soils are now considered degraded due to poor agricultural practices, erosion, pollution, and climate extremes.
As an industry, farming is also highly carbon-intensive, with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimating that global agrifood systems’ emissions reached 16.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022, and this problem is further exacerbated by the poor state of our soils worldwide.
Soils are dynamic, meaning that they can draw carbon out of the atmosphere through photosynthesis, but if they become degraded, such as through burning or draining peatlands, they can also release carbon, accelerating global heating as they emit greenhouse gases.
To prevent further climate breakdown, we need to urgently change the way we farm to reduce its environmental impacts without compromising productivity. For this, we must turn to our soil.
Healthy soils mean more resilient and productive farms
Soil health is not just an environmental issue; it’s an economic one. Erosion costs the world an estimated USD 8 billion each year, while soil compaction, driven by the increasing size of agricultural machinery and the growing number of livestock, is estimated to cause long-term productivity losses of 10-20% due to these combined effects.
If we can better understand our soils, we can adapt our methods to work with nature, rather than against it, encouraging smarter farming and creating climate-resilient food systems.
What’s more, if we can grow more food on healthier, more productive soils, we can also free up less productive land for nature. Colombia is classed among the “megadiverse” countries, estimated to host 10% of the world’s biodiversity. However, this extraordinary abundance is under threat, primarily from farming: between 2000 and 2020, 4.9 million hectares of natural forest were converted into grasslands.
By improving yields sustainably, we can allow marginal land to recover and expand habitats for Colombia’s extraordinary wildlife. In this way, better soil management isn’t just good for farmers, but it also supports the restoration of biodiversity and gives more space for our unique ecosystems to thrive.
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Closing the soil knowledge gap
Despite decades of research into soil by scientists, we have been unable to ‘see into’ our soils to depth using methods with great detail, as the methods currently used to measure soil health struggle to capture its dynamics over time in sufficient detail and across meaningful spatial scales.
However, one new global non-profit organisation may have found the answer to close this knowledge gap. Over the past three years, the Earth Rover Program, a partner of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, has been developing fast, accessible, and scalable tools that will, for the first time, allow us to “see” into the soil beneath our feet.
Developed in collaboration with scientists at hubs on three continents, including the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, the Earth Rover Program has established ‘soilsmology’, a scientific concept that repurposes the methods of seismology for soil science. By passing ultrahigh-frequency waves through the topsoil, it aims to illuminate the soil’s ‘vital signs’ – its structure (including depth, topsoil and subsoil volume, and soil horizons), moisture, bulk density, connected porosity, and potentially texture and carbon content. Able to visualise the health, structure, and deficiencies of their soils in quasi real time, farmers will be able to tailor their treatments more precisely, enabling land management that is both productive and sustainable.
In high-income regions, this enhanced precision should enable farmers to reduce inputs like fertiliser, irrigation, and deep tillage without sacrificing yield. In lower-income areas, it means helping farmers to increase productivity while keeping costs low.
Crucially, these new technologies, far from being developed in a tech-vacuum, have been developed in collaboration with farmers to incorporate knowledge that data alone cannot capture. In combining scientific innovation with the invaluable knowledge of farmers and indigenous communities globally, we can ensure no one is left behind in the shift toward resilient, regenerative land stewardship.
Following Brazil’s hosting of COP30 in November, all eyes are now on South America to carry forward on this drive for global climate action. Colombia is already demonstrating leadership in reducing fossil fuel use, with plans to host the First International Conference for the Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels in April 2026. The same vision and bravery must now be applied to transforming our agricultural systems. Colombia must lead the way, instigating a new, Greener Revolution, one in which both farmers and nature benefit.
