The delicate structures of our soils have been damaged by the extractive practices of industrial farming in ways that affect our food, our health and that of the planet. Humans have the ability to heal our soils by practising regenerative techniques that produce nutrient-dense food, sequester carbon in the ground and nurture essential biodiversity. We have the power to be part of this story by choosing to support those who care for the soil whether producing food or fibre. Healthy soil, healthy people, healthy planet.
Much of life on Earth is connected by a vast, hidden network that we are only just beginning to understand. Out of sight, between the world of plants and animals, another world exists—the kingdom of fungi.
Merlin Sheldrake is a biologist, writer, and speaker with a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. He received a Ph.D. in tropical ecology from Cambridge University for his work on underground fungal networks in tropical forests in Panama, where he was a predoctoral research fellow of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He is a research associate of the Vrije University Amsterdam, works with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), and sits on the advisory board of the Fungi Foundation. Merlin’s research ranges from fungal biology, to the history of Amazonian ethnobotany, to the relationship between sound and form in resonant systems. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. He is a musician and performs on the piano and accordion.