In a world facing climate crises, production pressures, and increasingly exhausted soils, soil health is emerging as one of the most urgent priorities of our time. Beneath our feet lies much of the future. Agricultural productivity, food security, rural economies, and the adaptive capacity of millions of families depend on a living resource that is seriously threatened, yet still capable of regeneration through science, collaboration, and decisive investment in evidence-based solutions.
For decades, agricultural soils have been treated as if they were infinite. Maize and wheat fields continue producing, harvests move forward, and life prospers atop a layer we assume is immutable. But science paints a different picture: this living, microscopic, and vital universe is undergoing accelerated degradation that jeopardizes its fertility, the economic stability of thousands of rural communities, and global food security. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warns that up to 33 percent of the world’s soils are already degraded, a condition that directly reduces their capacity to provide food, water, and essential ecosystem services. Furthermore, 1.66 billion hectares are considered degraded due to human activities, and 1.7 billion people live in areas where agricultural yields have fallen by at least 10 percent due to soil deterioration. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the FAO estimates that up to 75 percent of soils show some degree of degradation, generating cumulative economic costs that affect productivity, incomes, and social well-being.
Soil as Natural Infrastructure and a Strategic Foundation for Agrifood Systems
From the perspective of CIMMYT, soil is far more than a support for crops: it is natural infrastructure, shared heritage, and the foundation of agrifood systems. Its ability to capture carbon, regulate water, buffer the impact of droughts and floods, and sustain agricultural ecosystems makes its health a decisive factor for the future. Degradation, on the other hand, quietly disrupts biological processes and accelerates the productive and climatic risks that millions of farmers face.
In recent discussions on soil recarbonization, CIMMYT — together with agricultural institutions, public and private actors, and the scientific community — emphasized that the transition toward low-emission agrifood systems is already underway. Advances in efficient nitrogen management, conservation agriculture, and regenerative practices show that it is possible to reduce emissions without sacrificing productivity or economic stability. In this comprehensive vision, soil becomes a central axis: it is where nutrients are stored, carbon is sequestered, water is regulated, and agricultural resilience is built in the face of a more extreme climate. Smart nitrogen management is emerging as one of the most relevant scientific frontiers to drive truly sustainable agrifood systems.
In Latin America, where territories rich in biodiversity coexist with severely eroded zones, the urgency is clear. From Mexico and across the Global South, soils face pressures from intensive use, loss of vegetation cover, and extreme climate. CIMMYT’s initiatives have demonstrated that regeneration is possible through conservation agriculture, diversification, soil analysis, intelligent residue management, and continuous technical support. These efforts not only improve yields; they restore life to the soil, reduce production costs, and strengthen rural economies.
Specialized media outlets have noted that soil health has become a strategic factor for food security. In regions where smallholder farmers face greater climate risks than available resources, soil deterioration translates into lower harvests, increased vulnerability, and fragile production cycles. This is not an abstract idea; it is a real obstacle to producing food.
A concrete example can be found in Hidalgo, Mexico, where CIMMYT and various partners are implementing a model that begins with understanding the soil in depth. Fertility, structure, and carbon analyses are conducted alongside diagnostics that guide personalized technical recommendations. Adjustments to tillage, nutrient dosages, residue management, and conservation practices are transforming fields once limited by degradation. For many farmers, viewing their soil through this scientific lens has been a turning point: understanding that regeneration is possible, measurable, and economically viable.
These actions are already expanding. Across Latin America, CIMMYT coordinates efforts with agribusiness, the private sector, and public institutions to accelerate soil recovery. It works closely with partners such as IICA, FIRA, the Government of Mexico, and local governments to bring science to the field, strengthen enabling policies, and facilitate investments that scale regenerative practices. Globally, the results are equally compelling: from South Asia to East Africa, CIMMYT’s interventions have enabled entire communities to restore the ecological function of their soils, strengthen productivity, and build resilience in the face of an increasingly unpredictable climate.
Recently, during COP30 in Belém, CIMMYT participated in one of the most relevant conversations about the future of soils and climate resilience. Jelle Van Loon, Regional Representative for the Americas, joined the panel “Restoring Soils, Renewing Futures: South-South Cooperation for Climate-Resilient Landscapes,” an event dedicated to exploring innovative restoration models and demonstrating how science, public policy, and financing can converge to regenerate degraded lands. The session underscored the global urgency: in Africa, 65 percent of soils show degradation, affecting productivity and exacerbating climate vulnerability.
From this starting point, the dialogue highlighted soil health as a unifying axis for climate action, green-job creation, biodiversity recovery, and sustainable development. It emphasized the value of South-South learning and the potential for African countries to adapt successful restoration strategies applied in Latin America, from landscape management to subsidy reforms, payments for ecosystem services, and climate-finance mechanisms.
The exchange also showed the urgency of harmonizing data and information systems across the Global South, strengthening extension services to raise awareness about soil care, and promoting tailored territorial approaches capable of addressing each region’s agronomic, climatic, and socioeconomic particularities.
For CIMMYT, this global exchange reinforces a key idea: soil restoration is a shared effort that requires applied science, strong alliances, and decisive investment to transform landscapes and opportunities.
The message that arises on World Soil Day is clear: protecting and regenerating soil is a planetary urgency and a shared responsibility with civil society, as we all consume something produced on agricultural soils every day. Soil is heritage and future; a foundation that connects us and on which we all depend. Its health sustains our economies, our food, and our adaptive capacity.
Today, the call is to collaborate, co-design, and take action, investing decisively and consistently in soil health. To look down, toward the discreet and fertile universe where an essential part of the future is taking shape. Preserving it is more than an environmental mandate; it is securing the life to come.
Climate adaptation and mitigation 
