Would life as we know it be possible without soil?

Whether we realise it or not, soils are the quiet partners behind nearly everything we eat, drink, or use. They function as the living skin of the Earth, storing, filtering, and enriching water, supplying organic matter and nutrients, anchoring roots, and hosting organisms that cycle carbon and nitrogen. Together, these processes make plant growth possible.

Many connections are indirect. Pollinators depend on flowering plants rooted in soil; livestock graze on grasslands nourished by soil, producing food such as milk and cheese; and forests supply timber while regulating climate and water cycles — all of which depend on soil.

Even products we rarely associate with soils have their origins there. The honey in your kitchen depends on bees visiting flowers that grow in soil, and a cotton T-shirt begins with plants rooted in agricultural soils. Every drop of drinking water we rely on is provided by soils through filtration and mineral enrichment.