Forest industry could restore degraded soils and strengthen global food security

Soil depletion has become one of the most serious global threats to food security. Forest industry side streams provide raw material for strengthening the soil resilience and microbiome.

UNESCO and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations have warned that a significant portion of the world’s farmland could lose its productivity.

According to a UN report, approximately 15 million square kilometres of soil have already been degraded, and the degraded area is estimated to be growing by one million square kilometres per year. This looming catastrophe is lowering not only the crop volumes but also the nutritional quality of our food.

The areas most affected by soil degradation are the ones where long-term soil erosion and overly intense usage are putting pressure on agricultural land.

Microbes are the soil maintenance team

According to Adjunct Professor and microbiology expert Elias Hakalehto, soil degradation is the result of decades of erosion, climate stress, soil structure degradation, and excessive use of free salts adding mineral fertilisers.