Stop 12. Soil health. The preservation and management of soil is totally dependent on agriculture and the way it operates. We at Hardwick devote much of our efforts to ensuring that what we have under our feet is looked after in the best possible way. To pick up a handful of soil is to experience the most biologically active material on the planet. Without exaggeration healthy soil will contain many billions of different types of fungi and microbes all with a very specific and vital roles to play somewhere within our eco-system.

The soil biome is hugely more complex than the gut biome and is the most complex of any on the Planet. Everything we do within our farming system is aimed at improving soil health, allowing the natural fertility of the soil to become available to the crops demands. Healthy soil produces healthy plants full of nutrients and this keeps us healthy too.

Our two fields have different soil types and are classed as grade 3B and grade 4. In UK grade 1 is the best quality land and 5 is the poorest. Our soils are not considered suitable for growing vegetable crops, but we have improved them, and they perform fairly well. Their main drawback is the high number of stones, over 40% and the shallow amount of soil. Ours soils are very prone to drought during the summer.