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Dr. Phil Gregory used to research extrasolar planets, but in recent years, he’s turned his scientific gaze from the heavens to planet Earth, and more specifically, to the ground beneath our feet.
He is convinced that if humans want to continue eating, it’s imperative that we pay attention to “the magic of soil.” Phil will be sharing this magic and its application to the Grafton Commons garden at his upcoming Earth Day presentation at the Bowen Island Public Library.
Phil was motivated to focus on soil when he heard that in 2014, a senior United Nations official predicted that, at the current rate of soil degradation, all the world’s topsoil could be gone in 60 years. After hearing this shocking statement, Phil felt compelled to investigate the looming problem of our future food supply.
He dove into the science of soil and became convinced that there is a solution. While some have turned to technology and lab-grown foods, Phil thinks there is a better way, one that can address climate change and doesn’t lend itself so easily to corporate control.
“We need to stop working against nature, and start working with it,” he says.
Where does the magic come in? Picture billions of microbes in every teaspoon of healthy soil – bacteria, fungi, and a host of tiny predators. Gregory explains that these microscopic beings “run extensive mining and recycling operations.” They have evolved with plants in mutually beneficial relationships and our current ‘conventional’ agriculture interrupts those natural processes and turns healthy soil into dirt.
For decades, agriculture has relied on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to boost production. But there is a growing awareness that this offers only temporary benefits. A vicious cycle starts: nitrogen fertilizer leads to loss of soil carbon and organic matter, which leads to an increased need for synthetic nitrogen fertilization, which further interrupts the natural processes, which leads to more environmental degradation and increased food insecurity. And there is mounting evidence for a decline in nutrients in our basic food stocks.
Additionally, such soil is much less capable of absorbing and holding water. This is a serious issue in our changing, drought-prone climates. In contrast, healthy soil is a “carbon sponge.” Phil gives the example of a bed of tomatoes and squashes at Grafton Commons – a Bowen community garden using regenerative methods – that flourished without needing to be watered during most of the heat dome of 2021. And this ability of healthy soil to retain water also means less soil erosion over time.
But the magic of healthy soil doesn’t stop there. Regenerative growing helps combat climate change. Conventional agriculture releases additional CO2 from the soil and throws it up into the atmosphere along with nitrous oxide, another potent greenhouse gas.
In the soil, carbon is a good thing. “Regenerative agriculture is capable of sequestering significant amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil where it’s beneficial,” Gregory says. This is nature’s own carbon capture and storage, no fancy technology needed.
Of course, there is more to creating healthy soil than steering clear of pesticides and synthetic chemicals, as Gregory is keen to explain. The key lies in mimicking nature. In his upcoming talk, Gregory will be explaining more about growing food regeneratively and how this is being done by volunteers at Bowen’s Grafton Commons. The principles of regenerative agriculture can be applied to any garden by any grower interested in learning.
Join Dr. Phil Gregory, UBC professor emeritus, for his talk: “Resilient Bowen Island: Helping to Build a Resilient Food System” to learn more. The talk is jointly presented by the Bowen Island Public Library and Bowen Island Food Resilience Society, and will be held at the Library Annex at 2 pm on April 22.
Dr. Gregory’s is the first of two Earth Month Talks. On April 29, Dr. Charles McNeill, a Bowen resident and Senior Advisor on Forests and Climate for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will present “Climate Change, Biodiversity, and the Future of Food: A Global Perspective to Inform Local Action.”
Those who are interested can find out more about these talks on the Bowen Library’s website, at bipl.link/earth
