HIGHLY respected soil ecologist Dr Christine Jones wants a new labelling system introduced so Australian consumers can make healthier eating choices, by selecting foods produced from carbon rich soils, high in mineral content.
Speaking at the Western Mineral Fertilisers Living Soils Conference in Perth last week, Dr Jones outlined her vision for a Soil Integrity Index.
The Index would rate foods according to the soil quality they originated from.
She is suggesting a basic rating system of one, two and three stars, to help consumers identify the food’s mineral content, based on its soil origins.
Dr Jones developed the idea about 12 months ago and has spoken to various levels of State and Federal Governments about her vision.
She is due to meet the Victorian State Government on March 1 and discussions with the WA government are also on the cards, if there’s any interest.
On March 1, she will inform the Victorian Government about her view of the correlation between soil quality and human health, and how her Soil Health Index can be used to stimulate healthy eating.
Dr Jones said the State Governments was “a bit more interested” than the Federal Government.
However, she is partly frustrated by the political process and believes the best hope for the Soil Integrity Index is to be driven by a joint, grass roots surge from consumer and farming groups.
Dr Jones said the Federal Government didn’t appear to be interested in her new concept because soils “are not that sexy”.
“The Soil Integrity Index is an idea that I have floated up for some time,” she said.
“Whenever I mention it, it generates a lot of interest.
“People come up and talk to me about it and they all think we should have one.
“However, it is very difficult to progress the idea.
“There has been, on a limited basis, some discussion with Federal Government as part of a general package of improving productivity and resilience to climate change.
“A lot of these things have to be linked to climate change to get a hearing about them.
“I have been called as a witness to Federal Government inquiries and mentioned it, but nothing has happened.
“As the founder of the Australian Soil Carbon Accreditation Scheme I was very optimistic about it.
“When I launched the Carbon Accreditation Scheme, I thought if we could pay farmers to increase the level of carbon in their soil, the Soil Integrity Index would be adopted by the government on a wide scale.
“It may well be that a grass roots push occurs between farmer groups and consumer groups.
“Consumers want food with minerals and farmers recognise that if they have soils with high integrity, it has a lot of benefits for them and at the same time it helps with producing healthy food.”
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