Soil provides us with much of our food.
An international soil scientist claims that, too often, New Zealanders treat "soil like dirt" when it should be revered because "our lives depend on it".
John Baker, noting this year has been declared International Year of Soils by the UN General Assembly, said human life exists because of soil yet
all most people do is walk on it, dirty their shoes or dig it up and put buildings and roads on it.
"Soil is a living entity," Dr Baker said. "It provides us with up to 90 per cent of our food. There are more living organisms in a cupful of healthy soil than people on the planet."
"The UN General Assembly has declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils," he said. "If we stopped being complacent we could lead the world in conservation agriculture but it requires recognition and an innovative approach from our politicians before it's too late. The clock is ticking on how many harvests New Zealand has left."
He said figures provided by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UK Farmers Weekly suggest the quality of soil is rapidly diminishing, and FAO predicts the world, on average, has just 60 more years of growing crops left.
