Britain's two research councils which govern funding for research that impacts on agriculture, BBSRC and NERC, have announced that they will work together to fund three new initiatives to improve our understanding of soils.

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Soil degradation is a pressing challenge facing farming, and beyond food security also has a bearing on water, energy, and climate change, the research councils said. Despite the established importance of soil, and the consequences of its degradation, in May the EU Commission withdrew proposals for a directive that would have afforded Europe's soils the same protection as other non-renewable natural resources, such as coal and fresh water.

The proposals had been stalled at the draft stage since 2007 by a blocking minority of member state governments, including that of the UK.    

NERC and BBSRC said soil science is a key strategic priority for the Global Food Security (GFS) programme, of which the councils are both partners. The two research groups will invest £7 million in the three projects, alongside funding from Defra and the Scottish government, in a bid to improve understanding of how soils are responding to challenges posed by the changing environment and land-use.

The initiatives are:

• £2.3 million for a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in soil science, which will be based at Lancaster University, and go towards developing "a new generation of highly-skilled scientists."  
• £5 million for a new research programme, SARISA (Soil and Rhizosphere Interactions for Sustainable Agri-ecosystems), which will cover four separate projects investigating the interactions between soil and the communities of microbes that live in close association with plant roots.
• £700,000 for the appointment of a Soil Co-ordinator, who will bring together organisations with a shared interest in 'soil security'. A team led by Professor Chris Collins at the University of Reading has been appointed to this role.

NERC's Chief Executive, Professor Duncan Wingham said, "Erosion, pollution and nutrient degradation are damaging this vital resource, threatening its ability to provide food and water security as well as climate mitigation. The outcomes of these initiatives will help us to manage and use this resource more responsibly into the future for the benefit of all society."

Professor Tim Benton, who has been named the government's 'food security champion', also commented on the announcement, "Without soils, agriculture is nothing. Around the world, the importance of soils for global food production and security is widely being recognised. These new initiatives recognise the importance of research needs in this area, which naturally cuts across the traditional 'environmental' and 'biological' areas."

Speaking about the organic charities' plans to refocus on soil health at the Soil Association's Annual Conference, which was held last week in Swindon, chief executive Helen Brown said,  "We have always been fundamentally about soil and one of the things we need to do is explain to the world why soil is quite so important. Next year is the international year of soil and we want to launch a concerted effort to support this. We need many more members, supporters, farmers, growers, businesses, schools and others to work with - we want everyone to understand what we're all about and want to join with us."