The role of soils in producing food and fuel and keeping ecosystems healthy is well understood.

As it is practiced today, agriculture is one of the biggest environmental offenders – yet it is necessary for our survival. Agriculture contributes one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, uses 70% of freshwater resources, and harms wildlife through conversion and fragmentation of biodiversity-rich habitats, water diversions, pesticide poisoning and creation of oceanic dead zones.

The all-American diet consisting of hot dogs, burgers and buns washed down with a sweet, cold beverage has taken a toll on the environment and on our health. Since diet, nutrition and the overall health of the planet are inextricably linked, experts are calling for a “transformative change in our food systems.”

Between 1961 and 2019, global population increased from 3.1 to 7.7 billion, cereal production from 880 to 2,900 million tons, and per capita cereal production from 284 to 376 kg. This uniquely impressive agronomic accomplishment – widely known as the “Borlaug Effect” – saved hundreds of millions from starvation.

The year 2020 has the eerie feel of the first chapter in a dystopian novel, but the idea that something must be done about climate change isn’t new.

Over the past century Earth has undergone dramatic changes for the worse.

Global gross domestic product (GDP) has quadrupled since 1970, enabling immense progress, and lifting billions of people out of poverty.

British broadcaster David Attenborough on Wednesday led a campaign by conservation groups for the world to invest $500 billion a year to halt the destruction of nature, saying the future of the planet was in “grave jeopardy”.

There is no shortage of bad news in media headlines. “Climate change is already killing us,” the World Health Organization (WHO) declared in the run up to the UN’s COP 27 Climate Change Conference.

We must see our planet, the living Earth, as one functioning organism, with all species and ecosystems playing a role in establishing the conditions for life to thrive in a hostile universe.

Over the last 150 years, the planet has lost half of its fertile topsoil. If farmers are to maintain the crop yields needed to feed our ever-growing population, then ensuring their fields receive the correct care is vital.

Forests are not just the lungs of the Planet: