California’s ‘Belowground Biodiversity’ Report Makes Soil Health Recommendations

California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) released a report on Belowground Biodiversity that provides targeted recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders to enhance soil health and conserve biodiversity, which plays an important role in climate resilience and food production. The report provides recommendations, including using soil biodiversity as a key metric for assessing and prioritizing soil health and multi-functionality, integrating a soil biodiversity assessment into CDFA’s Healthy Soils Program, and developing an adaptive management framework that incorporates soil biodiversity assessment. Lead author Dr. Kate Scow explains, “Improved understanding of belowground biodiversity is essential to achieving a carbon-neutral future and tackling climate change.”