Protecting Soil Biodiversity
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Farmers know that healthy soil is the foundation of productive land and resilient crops. But beneath the surface, there's a whole world of biodiversity that some fear we’re gradually losing. Perhaps one of the biggest contributors? Climate change, says McCain Foods’ manager of research and innovation, Dr. Michelle D’Souza.
D’Souza… “We're losing soil at such a rapid rate, which means we're losing biodiversity at such a rapid rate in a system that is one of the most diverse in our entire planet. So think of all of the solutions we are losing to some of these crises when that mutualistic relationship evolved between fungi and plants. That changed the environment, right? That sucked out so much CO2 for an environment. It created life the way we know it today. This has happened in the past. One of the biggest challenges we have right now is climate change. It's all of that. CO2 is back in the atmosphere again. Life has done this before. That's what I get excited about, focusing on how.”
D’Souza believes regenerative agriculture has the potential to protect, and even bring back some of this biodiversity.
D’Souza… “ I think the biggest thing we can do right now is protect it. That is the biggest thing. We don't understand it. We need to archive it so that we can learn from it. Right. That's the magic of DNA. It's a book. We need to work really hard to make sure that it is there to read.”
D’Souza is a molecular ecologist whose work focuses on biodiversity conservation, community engagement, and knowledge mobilization.
