National Soil Health Day Resolution
Sponsors:
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi
Synopsis:
A Resolution supporting the designation of December 5 of each year as “National Soil Health Day”. This Resolution celebrates the importance of soil health. In addition, the resolution raises the awareness of the importance of healthy.soils.
Why is this needed?
- Despite soil’s importance to human health, water quality, climate mitigation, the air in our environment, human nutrition and the production of food, feed, fiber, and fuel, there is little public awareness of the importance of protecting our soils and its health.
- Soil erosion and excessive losses of plant nutrients from the soil are degrading the quality of streams, rivers, and lakes as well contributing to the hypoxic or dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. These issues threaten the resilience of the nation’s communities, economy and environment.
- The nation’s soil has been degraded by the use of tillage, and continues to degrade at an alarming rate. This degradation results in water and wind erosion, soil nutrient losses, increased greenhouse gasses, and reduced productivity of food, fuel, and fiber. We must raise public awareness to the importance of protecting soils and its health in order to reverse this trend.
What does this bill do?
- The resolution (HR 1079) is an educational tool to raise awareness of the importance of soil health by dedicating December 5th of each year as “National Soil Health Day”.
- The national celebration invites a diverse group of US citizens and organizations to come together to celebrate and strengthen the awareness of soil health to the lives of all citizens.
- The resolution invites all producing agriculturalists and the food consuming public to acknowledge the importance of a healthy soil to the nutritional and financial well being of our country and all of the world.
What it does not do:
- Does not require or mandate farmers and landowners to take action to protect and build soil health.
- Does not request appropriations from Congress and our US Treasury
- Does not request additional resources from any United States or individual state agency staff, unless the agency chooses to participate in National Soil Health Day
Equity Impact:
The health of our nation’s food, water, economy, and environment are rooted in the health of our soils. These healthy soils have the ability to sink carbon and reverse climate change, grow nutritious food for communities, and keep waterways clean. Yet every year soils are lost or degraded because their value is overlooked. Everyone is impacted by the health of the soil, but especially marginalized communities who stand to benefit the most from a healthy environment and food source that are the result of healthy soil. This celebration has the potential to bring a diverse group of current advocates and potential advocates together to not only celebrate but educate and raise the awareness of why protecting soil is important to human, environmental, and economic health.
Economic Impact
Soils are the foundation of one of our nation’s leading industries — agriculture. Celebrating, honoring, and protecting one of our most valuable natural resources helps ensure that agriculture can continue to be an economic driver for individual states and our nation for generations to come. Measuring the value of a healthy soil can be obtained by evaluating the increase of its soil organic matter, the water quality free of manufactured fertilizer nutrients coming from a healthy soil, the freedom of soil particulates in the air, and the nutritional quality of our food.
Take Action! Urge your Member of Congress to Co-Sponsor National Soil Health Day Resolution!
Take Action! You can help protect the United States most valuable natural resource by encouraging your member of Congress to co-sponsor HR 1079 the National Soil Health Day Resolution.
