Soil health – Towards a ‘Microbial Agriculture’?

Soils have long been considered primarily through a physico-chemical lens in agriculture and environmental management. Today, however, we are observing a shift towards ecological perspectives, and a growing interest from managing soil quality to managing soil health. What does it mean, however, to know and manage soils as living microbial ecosystems, and what are the consequences of a ‘soil health’ paradigm for the future of agriculture? In this presentation, Dr Krzywoszynska will reflect on the relevance of microbial knowledges and ethics in the emerging regenerative agriculture movement, and in biodiversity governance, while her PhD student Paula Palanco Lopez will reflect on the importance of understanding ‘soil health’ in its own terms, beyond anthropocentric and utilitarian framing.