How has it come to this point in our history that we hardly value the food we eat and the soil that it’s grown in? How is it that we care so little how food production impacts animals and the environment?
Industrial farming has transformed Britain’s rural landscapes, increasing crop yields and reducing hunger. Yet this has all come at a terrible ecological cost. It is ‘both a miracle and a disaster’.
Six Inches of Soil, the film and this companion book, is the inspiring story of three British farmers standing up to the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food – to heal the soil, benefit our health and provide for local communities.
Six Inches of Soil is a story of courage, vision and hope. This book is not just for farmers. Reconnecting with our food, and regenerating our soils, ourselves and our communities benefits everyone and needs everyone to be involved. We want to inspire farmers with the confidence and practical know-how to adopt regenerative farming approaches. We want to give consumers the impetus and information to rethink their food choices.
This book and the film are closely related but stand on their own. In these pages you will find detailed chapters on each of the three farmers that provide replicable case studies and inspiration. Additionally, there are chapters examining the problems with the current agri-food system and proposing solutions and a vision for the future. Recognised experts: explain agroecological farming systems and soil science; consider the issues of land use, greenwashing, subsidies, food security; and provide examples of agroforestry applications, and farm enterprise stacking and diversification.
Their three stories are inspiring, guiding and frustrating. Allow yourself to be inspired, to be guided and to turn your frustration in to action.
Jeremy Toynbee had his hands in the soil studying archaeology at Trinity College, University of Wales. He then followed a love of books and reading into publishing. As an editor, he has been polishing the words of others and shaping them into books for over 25 years. Following stints in newsstand magazines and with the academic publishers Routledge and SAGE, Jeremy formed his own publishing services company in 2007. He was consulting for 5m Books when the opportunity arose to buy it in 2020. Priya Kalia is a biologist with over 12 years' experience in regenerative medicine research, where she studied how to repair the body when it's ill, injured or ageing. During her time in research, she learned about how food and its micronutrients can positively affect our bodies. Priya studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at the University of Toronto, Canada, has a PhD from University College London, and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge and Kings College London. She runs a strategic communications and content advisory firm, Scitribe. Molly Foster is an interdisciplinary researcher whose interests relate to food and farming sustainability. She studied human sciences at Oxford University and is currently pursuing an anthropology PhD at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. She has previously carried out research into corporate venturing into alternative proteins, with the University of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and taught undergraduate human ecology.
