MPs are calling for a regulatory framework to be introduced by 2035 to focus on preventing soil degradation and contamination across agriculture.

The cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee says soil health should be put on the same footing as water and air quality.

Their new report, released on Tuesday, December 5, examines how the government could turn the tide on soil degradation.

In recent years, soil in the UK has become heavily degraded through over-use, erosion, compaction, or pollution.

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To combat this, MPs who sit on the committee are calling for statutory targets on soil health, alongside the existing water and air quality targets, by 2028.

This will need to be underpinned by data, their report says, as well as agreed soil health indicators and widely accepted definitions of ‘sustainable soil management’.

EFRA emphasises that soil health monitoring must be on a continuous, ongoing basis, not a one-off event, and should be on the same scale as funding for the country’s other critical assets – water and air.

They also recommend the introduction, by 2035, of a regulatory framework to focus on preventing soil degradation and contamination across various sectors, including construction and planning, as well as agriculture.

With soil waste making up 58% of tonnage received by landfills, MPs recommend that these laws should aim to prevent soil waste from ending up in landfills.

Their report calls on the government to fund the widespread, standardised testing of soil through the UK's post-Brexit Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes.

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An agreed set of metrics of soil health should also be established by 2024, as well as definitions of sustainable farming.

EFRA's report goes on to recommend that the government should aim "for nearly all farmers and growers (90% or more) to be part of an ELM scheme by 2040".

However, the government should make sure that sustainable farming is profitable farming, by addressing unsustainable supply chain demands and by ensuring that ELMs pay attractive rates.

While the report highlights the importance and the potential of ELMs to improve soil health, it points out that they alone ‘cannot be the whole story’.

Responding to the report, the chair of EFRA, Sir Robert Goodwill, said threats to soil health were in turn threats to Britain's domestic food supply.

He said: "Our report says that it is about that time that soil health is considered on an equal footing with these other critical assets.

“Problems of soil degradation, contamination, and soil waste can be addressed through the use of sustainable soil management practices and now is the time for the government to lead on this.

“ELMs are a good start, but we call on the government to make these schemes more ambitious, aiming to get nearly all farmers involved and ensuring that they adopt a variety of sustainable soil management practices across their land.

"We also encourage the government to use ELMs to fund the collection of the data we desperately need to understand our soils."