Coleman, R. (2016). Valuing What Really Matters: A Look at Soil Currency. Solutions 7(4): 18–21. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/valuing-what-really-matters-a-look-at-soil-currency/
Perspectives Valuing What Really Matters: A Look at Soil Currency by Randall Coleman
W
e have all heard the expression “cheaper than dirt.” But many experts disagree. Soil is a vital resource that the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates contributes about USD $16.5 trillion in ecosystem services annually.1 In fact, FAO named 2015 the International Year of the Soils in order to highlight the importance of soils in our food system. Unfortunately, arable soil is depleting very rapidly due to erosion, by around 24 billion tons each year.2 This rate of erosion is 10 to 100 times greater than the rate at which soil is being replenished.3 The major contributing factors are urban development, desertification, and industrial agriculture. The use of chemicals, intensive machinery, and monoculture are increasing productivity in the short term but leading to fallow soil and desertification over the long term. The most widely discussed solutions around these issues include polyculture, reforestation, and climate-smart agricultural practices. But, what if the reason we do not see soil being replenished is because we are not properly valuing it? I believe soil can provide a way to increase food access in urban food deserts, increase healthy diets among low-income communities, and shield communities from increasingly volatile global markets. To do this, we can look to the world of economics for a solution. Some practitioners, artists, and scholars are exploring the idea of soil as a currency. Economists, agronomists, and ecologists have already agreed and estimated the economic benefits we receive from soil ecosystem services. Because we can create certain types
of topsoil and because we know how valuable it is, we can create an economic system that is based on the value of soil. Imagine a world where households provide their organic waste to urban gardeners and farmers in exchange for currency or points. After a prescribed amount of time, that household will collect enough points to “buy” produce from that farmer. Both parties benefit in this arrangement. The farmer needs inputs to create valuable compost for his/her operations, and the household has free access to healthy local produce. In addition, nearby restaurants and cafes can get involved, providing input materials for farmers, buying ingredients for their menus, and selling salads and sandwiches to participating households, all with an alternative currency based on soil. The points accrued could be based not only on the quantity of waste, but also on the type. For instance, to create quality compost, you need both materials high in nitrogen (greens) and materials high in carbon (browns). The volumes required for each of these differ as well, contributing to the waste-food calculation. To be clear, the waste in question is primarily actual waste that cannot or will not be consumed as food again. Examples include egg shells, coffee grounds, used paper towels, and kitchen scraps. This system does not incentivize throwing out edible food. Participants will be trained on what constitutes “waste” and would be encouraged not to throw out food simply to acquire soil currency. Furthermore, there are components to this system that will help to check this moral hazard. Soil currency can only buy more fresh
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produce, so the participant does not gain anything by throwing out edible food. Different growing seasons for different crops will limit participants’ ability to game the system. Lastly, a part of this system could be to provide participants with waste bins designed for the right amount of browns and greens, further encouraging the right kind of participation. There is a lot of research on how much food is wasted in both the industrialized and developing world, and where in the supply chain this happens, before or after the consumer.4 Households and industry are wasting perfectly good food at the same time that millions of people are experiencing hunger and malnutrition. Food waste is becoming more and more accepted as a serious issue to be addressed and soil currency should not undermine this progress. The goal of soil currency is to incentivize people to compost who ordinarily would not, and, to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. This might sound like pie in the sky, and in many ways it is still just an idea at this point. There are, however, groups who are trying to make this a reality, like Hello Compost in the Bronx, NYC. Hello Compost is a “home composting service” that collects waste from residents in specially designed pouches and delivers that waste to a nearby urban farm called Project EATS.5,6 Participating residents receive “credits” for the waste they produce via a mobile app, where they can track their progress and redeem their credits for food grown at a Project EATS site. The urban farm can use the compost it has made or sell it to make income. The Hello Compost operation is still in the early stages and has yet to include nearby businesses that serve food, as described earlier. However, after one year in operation, this project has contributed significantly