Soil health
Fertility, structure, organic matter, and erosion control.
Focus — Natural Resources & Regenerative Systems — Soil and land
SOIL AND LAND
IDEAS WE SUPPORT.
World Seed Fund supports people whose ideas improve soil and land condition for the farmers, herders, and landholders who depend on the ground.
Why this area
SOIL AND LAND
IN CONTEXT.
Soil is slow to build and quick to lose. Land ideas qualify when they show what the ground is doing now, what would change it, and who holds the rights and patience to see restoration through.
Scope of the area
WHAT THIS AREA
INCLUDES.
Illustrations of scope, not a fixed list. If your idea belongs here but is not described below, introduce it anyway.
Restoration
Bringing degraded or abandoned land back into use.
Tenure & stewardship
Who holds land, and how care is shared and sustained.
Measurement
Simple ways to record what is happening below ground.
Criteria to qualify
WHAT A SOIL AND LAND
IDEA MUST SHOW.
All five criteria apply. An idea does not need to be complete or proven — it needs to be specific enough that we can judge it, and grounded enough that a next step is possible.
A defined problem, in a defined place
We need to understand exactly who is affected, where, and how they cope today. General statements about a global challenge are not enough to qualify.
- Names the place, community, or system where soil and land condition fall short.
- States the situation today in plain terms — organic matter, erosion, water retention, or yield stability.
- Explains what the farmers, herders, and landholders who depend on the ground do now, and what it costs them.
Human insight behind the idea
The idea should come from knowledge of the situation — technical, scientific, operational, cultural, or lived — rather than from an assumption about it.
- Draws on direct knowledge of soil and land condition in that place.
- Accounts for why earlier restoration and conservation schemes did not hold here.
- Was shaped with the farmers, herders, and landholders who depend on the ground, not only for them.
A credible next step
There must be a specific thing that can be attempted next, at a scale that can be observed honestly, with a stated way of judging whether it worked.
- A defined pilot with a stated size — hectares under a new practice, over one or more seasons.
- A stated measure of success — organic matter, erosion, water retention, or yield stability.
- A timeframe within which the result can be judged honestly.
Value for people and place
The benefit should be meaningful to the community or system the idea serves, and describable in terms they would recognise.
- Improves productivity, resilience, and long-term land value for the farmers, herders, and landholders who depend on the ground.
- The benefit is described in words the community itself would use.
- Does not shift cost, risk, or harm onto neighbouring people or systems.
A path to keep working
Ideas qualify when someone can plausibly own, operate, fund, and repair the result after the first phase of support ends.
- A named landholder group, cooperative, or land authority able to carry the work after the first phase.
- Running costs, materials, and skills obtainable near the work.
- Ownership, permission, or agreement that lets the work continue.
Evidence & boundaries
WHAT HELPS,
AND WHAT DOES NOT.
Evidence can be modest. A careful account of a small trial is worth more than a projection.
Evidence we look for
- Any observation, record, or measurement of soil and land condition in that place.
- Costs, materials, or time recorded from a small trial, however modest.
- Notes, letters, or agreements from the farmers, herders, and landholders who depend on the ground or the landholder group, cooperative, or land authority.
Usually outside this area
- Broad proposals about soil and land with no named place and no named people.
- Equipment or funding requests with no operator and no running cost.
- Work that transfers cost, risk, or harm to neighbouring people or systems.
Submit an idea
INTRODUCE YOUR
SOIL AND LAND IDEA.
There is no application window and no required format. Answer these four questions in your own words and we will read them.
Who is affected, where, and how do they manage today?
What do you know about soil and land condition that others working on it may not?
What could you attempt next, and how would you judge whether it worked?
Who continues the work afterwards, and what keeps it running?
Human potential is everywhere. Opportunity should be too.