Year of soil begins with key conference

Dr Elaine Ingham, a leading American soil biology researcher and the founder of Soil Foodweb Inc, will be one of the keynote speakers at The Oxford Real Farming Conference on January 6-7. She will be explaining how nurturing the relationship between roots and soil can reduce fertiliser bills and enhance plant health.

On the two days’ following the conference Dr Ingham will deliver two one-day workshops on understanding and nurturing the life of the soil.

Dr John Meadley, who has organised Dr Ingham’s visit, said: “This is a rare opportunity to catch Dr Ingham in the UK and we encourage anyone who is interested in the life of the soil to attend one of these workshops.”

Other soil experts at the conference include Dr Bruce Ball, who will be teaching delegates how to assess soil structural quality, and Jonathan Smith from Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit who will be chairing a panel on carbon sequestration and examining how farmers can measure, improve and take advantage of the high carbon storage capacity of well-managed soils. The Soil Association will chair a session on farmer-led innovation, while the Sustainable Food Trust will examine the biological building blocks of healthy food systems.

The forthcoming conference coincides with the beginning of the UN Year of Soils.