WCC 2020 Res 003 - Activity Report

Training of Bhoomitras. Bhoomitras, or friends of the soil, are local change leaders who are the last link in the process of faithful handholding of the farmers in adopting sustainable soil management practices. These local youth have been extensively trained, both through classroom teaching and on-field exposure in collecting data, conducting training, understanding the nuances of agricultural problems and providing timely help. All of them have been trained in proper scientific methods of soil sample collection, pests and diseases identification, and monitoring and reporting by respective domain experts. They will be trained with state-of-the-art IT-based farm management platforms for data collection and reporting.

Save Soil is collaborating with the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet (Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) on a series of talks featuring medical professionals, scientists, nutritionists, and experts from various fields and Sadhguru, discussing the importance of soil in various aspects of human health. In July and August 2024, talks were given on the topics of Eco-Anxiety as well as Soil’s crucial role in human physical and mental well-being. Previous talks include the nexus of soil microbiome and human gut microbiome, and epigenetics.

The Save Soil Experts Roundtable with Sadhguru on World Soil Day, December 5, 2022 with an expert panel from INRAE, ICBA, ITPS, GLI, 4p1000 and many others to collectively discuss the most urgent questions around revitalizing soil through the science-policy interface, which 155 soil experts and NGOs from 31 countries participated, also falls under this category.

An "Earth Buddy" refers to someone who actively supports and promotes soil health through awareness generation and policy advocacy. These individuals pledge to commit at least 10 minutes of a day to engage in activities that help to create awareness about the importance of soil. Over 170,261 people signed up to be Earth Buddies. Training is ongoing to update Earth Buddies activities to align with the progress of the movement.

Around 3 million children across 63 countries wrote letters to their national leaders, requesting them to take action for soil regeneration. The Save Soil media team worked to publish 800+ articles in Europe about the Save Soil movement with coverage in Spain, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Slovenia, Poland, Romania, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Montenegro, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland. To date, 2000+ Save Soil media articles were published. Across the world, a total of 564 Walk for Soil, Stand for Soil, Cycle for Soil, and other Save Soil awareness events took place thanks to the participation of nearly 60,000 Earth Buddies and volunteers. Save Soil: Our Very Body, a documentary film about soil extinction, premiered on Discovery India.

Save Soil Rally, March 2022: Sadhguru’s lone motorcycle journey from London to India covering 30,000 Kms and 27 nations in 100 days to raise global awareness about soil extinction and affect policy change. Sadhguru met with leaders and citizens in each country to appeal for national policies and concerted action to increase soil organic matter to a minimum of 3-6%. He attended 691 events and interviews, 6949 media stories were posted in support of his journey.

The Save Soil movement hosted a virtual experts roundtable on World Soil Day Dec. 5, 2022 with an expert panel from INRAE, ICBA, ITPS, GLI, 4p1000 and many others to collectively discuss the most urgent questions around revitalizing soil through the science-policy interface. 155 soil experts and NGOs from 31 countries participated. The Save Soil draft policy recommendations for seven regions as well as sustainable soil management solution catalogs (for farmers) for 193 nations were published on savesoil.org on this day.

Field visits to farmlands of model farmers who were supported by Save Soil farmer trainings (conducted by other initiatives of Save Soil, either Cauvery Calling Initiative or Thaimann Kaakum Vivasayam TKV) to interact with them for documentation of regional viability, cost-benefit analysis, and farmer well-being in organic farming and natural farming systems. Extensive questionnaires were created with input from scientists and experts, providing multiple angles on the impact of sustainable agriculture on the soil, crops, livestock, farmers’ and family’s socio-economic status, land, and surrounding environment.

Save Soil is working with Banas Dairy farmers in Banaskantha District, Gujarat, to increase their income through sustainable soil management SSM practices to enhance soil organic matter, soil health, crop yield, and reduce input costs, with economy of scale in mind. The project covers 37,000 ha of arable land. An extensive baseline survey was conducted in the initial 2 months, with data from 14,000 farmers and soil testing reports from 500+ farmlands. Farmer training includes SSM practices like cover cropping, mulching, crop rotation and integrated pest and nutrient management via classroom and on-farm demonstrations. The “4R’s” for nutrient management - Right source, Right rate, Right time and Right method of application - prevents excessive use of chemical inputs. Scientific packages of practices for crops are developed in consultation with regional and national agricultural experts. To reclaim salt-affected soils, farmers are thoroughly trained to use a bacterial formulation developed by the CSSRI. Constant monitoring and farmer handholding is provided through consultation with experts from CSSRI. Organic amendments such as PROM and biofertilizers such NPK bacterial consortia, PSB, ZSB are also used in the recommended dosage. All recommendations to farmers are based on soil life reports, which reflect physical, chemical, and biological parameters such as bacterial to fungal ratio, microbial biomass, microbial respiration rate, etc. Farmers are able to see and appreciate the life inside their soils through microscope photos, and adopt corrective measures accordingly. Extensive on-ground farmer support through local youth change agents (Bhoomitras, or friends of the soil) ensures farmers follow recommendations and get the best results. Bhoomitras are trained extensively in communication, leadership and data collection. They act as the real-time bridge between expert knowledge and farmers. These efforts are possible with the generous support of Banas Dairy.

Ongoing efforts to raise funds through various institutions, and need support for fundraising for advocacy activities, and the capacity building of our own teams through interaction with technical experts through various conferences.

COP28 Dubai, Save Soil brought soil health further into the international dialogue from its blue zone pavilion with participation from UN bodies, finance community, farmers, soil experts and world leaders.
UNFCCC policy brief urging climate finance for soil and farmers’ transition to agroecology, written in partnership with SEKEM and 4p1000 to be signed by aligned NGOs.
UNCCD policy brief written in partnership with 4p1000 for COP16 in Riyadh seeking UNCCD to expand geographical scope of land restoration projects and funding for annual / perennial croplands and rangelands, to be signed by aligned CSOs.

Nepal’s Ministries of Environment and Agriculture presented a Letter of Solidarity and their support along with the pledge to plant 30,000 trees to Save Soil.
Rt Hon Lord Benyon (Parliament Under Secretary of State at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK) appreciated Save Soil’s work in raising awareness of soil health.
Several countries, including the UAE, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Italy, the Vatican, the Republic of Suriname, and Nigeria, along with organizations such as the Commonwealth of Nations and the Muslim World League, have expressed their support for the Save Soil movement.
The Italian Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) invited Save Soil to be an official stakeholder in the European Joint Program for Soil.
Save Soil representatives are part of the Steering Committee on the Drought Response team set up by Kenya.
Save soil is an advisory partner to Soils4Med.
India successfully changed policy to support farmers to take up tree-based agriculture. Govt. allocated USD2.5 billion to support farmers
Actively contributed to the New EU Soil Monitoring Directive through rounds of Consultations
Worked with a coalition to seek changes to support soil health in the USA Farm Bill 2024
Member of the Working Committee that is creating a new “Law on Soil Protection” and amending Land Code and Ecology Code in Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan - Initial stages of collaboration with Ministry of Environment to raise awareness of soil degradation and work towards a soil health policy in the country.

A Sustainable Soil Management (SSM) Catalog based on science-proven and field-tested experiments was compiled in 2022 for each of the 193 countries in the savesoil.org resource database. 100+ volunteers were inspired by the Save Soil Rally to contribute to consolidating in one place SSMs for cropland, feedland, and animal rearing. SSM practices were chosen for their suitability to the specific agro-ecological zones and WRB soil types within a country. Other considerations also include major crops/feed grown, native plant species, country-wise agricultural situation, traditional ecological knowledge, and indigenous agricultural practices. These catalogs are freely accessible to the public and are constantly being updated with new research and inputs from experts, scientists, and citizens alike. During the 100-day rally motorcycle ride from London to South India, Sadhguru presented the catalog along with the draft policy recommendations to heads of state and government officials.

Banas Dairy Workshop, December 2022. A 2-day workshop was organized at Isha Yoga Center, Tamil Nadu, to help Banas Dairy (Asia’s largest milk cooperative) address problems of fodder shortage, saline soils, and desertifying farmlands, all of which negatively impact cooperative profits, farmer income, livestock well-being and soil health. This 2-day technical workshop focused on how saline soils are formed, benefits of growing native salt-tolerant fodder species, and SSM practices such as mulching, cover cropping, and the use of cow manure, especially jeevamrutham a traditional, native cow dung-based fertilizer made from cow manure, cow urine, gram flour, jaggery, and soil, increases soil biological activity. The workshop invited experts to showcase best practices and case studies on salinity remediation and salt-tolerant fodder species. The workshop was also complemented by field visits to local model farmers practicing natural farming and methods of homemade cow manure-based fertilizers.

Technical and Policy Recommendations to Institutions, State and National Governments. Governments from within and outside of India approach the Save Soil Movement for consultations and interest in collaboration. Technical consultations and recommended solutions are given based on soil types, agroecological zonation, characteristics of the agricultural sector in the country. The prevailing policy atmosphere around soil management and agriculture are also analyzed and policy gaps are identified.