Preparing the ground for a healthy future

The Bio Foundation Switzerland champions soil fertility. It supports farms in the area around Lake Constance (DE) that put the necessary measures into practice and agree to being scientifically monitored. In October, the foundation presented the film Unser Erbe (our heritage) which shows Marc Uhlig accompanying the Demeter farmer Achim Heitmann through the year.

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Fertile soil while being fundamental to life is not appreciated enough. While issues such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, air pollution and the shortage of drinking water are widely discussed, the gradual loss of healthy, fertile soil is rarely mentioned, and if at all, then only among experts. Very little is done actively. The Soil Fertility Fund of the Bio-Foundation in Switzerland is determined to change this.

Every person in Central Europe needs around a quarter of a hectare (2500 square meters) of cultivated land on average to provide their food. In other words, we would be lost without Mother Earth which constitutes the ground on which everything can thrive, from invisible micro-organisms to creatures that live in the soil to the colourful diversity of the plant world – and our food. In short: we need this living organism, and we need it to be healthy, for only then will human existence on earth be secure in the long term and across generations.

Loss of humus content

Something that only few people know is that valuable and healthy land is lost every day due to unsuitable cultivation methods and urbanization. One of the main problems is the use of heavy machinery that makes the soil dense which in turn prevents root growth; and as the soil deteriorates, the quality of water, air and food deteriorate too.

In Europe, soil compaction and soil sealing have already resulted in the loss of – in some areas – fifty percent of humus content. How tragic this is becomes clear if we realize that it takes 750 years of intensive farming work to create a five-centimetre thick humus layer.

Our Heritage

The film Unser Erbe (our heritage) explains and raises awareness of this problem. Its producer Marc Uhlig spent a year with Demeter farmer Achim Heitmann on his farm near Lake Constance (DE). Heitmann speaks with refreshing openness about his relationship with the soil and about his concerns regarding soil health. There are interviews with other people, too, who also care about our heritage from their diverse professional points of view: scientists, economists, and entrepreneurs. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, environmental scientist and ambassador of the Soil Fertility Foundation, illustrates for instance how crucial it is today to understand that concepts which were once developed for an «empty» world are destructive in today’s «full» world. New ways of thinking are therefore essential.

On 23 October 2019 the Bio Foundation Switzerland organized the Swiss premiere of the film at KultKino Basel (CH) with a discussion afterwards. The Foundation has contributed much to the production of the film in terms of funding, ideas and content. The film will screen in Germany towards the end of the year and a dvd will be released in the spring of 2020.

The Bio-Foundation Switzerland’s Soil Fertility Fund

The Soil Foundation Fund relies most of all on the support of around 30 farms in the Lake Constant Region and on growing public awareness. The methods of organic and biodynamic farming protect, maintain and promote soil health. This requires sensible crop rotation, the reduced use of heavy machines, healthy instincts and a profound understanding of the needs of nature.

All this takes time and needs money. This is why the Soil Fertility Fund offers both financial as well as expert help. «The farmers must be given space so that they can consider the complex interaction of soil, living creatures and soil fertility more carefully and so that they have to make fewer compromises in order to survive,» says Mathias Forster, the Foundation’s ceo. The Soil Fertility Fund of the Bio-Foundation Switzerland brings together scientists and researchers, organic farmers, consumers, entrepreneurs, associations and foundations who, together, raise public awareness, take responsibility and promote soil sustainability. Anyone, enterprises included, can support this network and help prepare the ground for a healthy future.

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