Professor Ingrid Kögel-Knabner | Soil Health as the Key to Sustainable Food Systems
Aktuelles, Kögel-Knabner |
In the podcast episode “The Origin Story | Episode 2: Soil – Sultan Ismail in conversation with Ingrid Kögel-Knabner,” she talks with soil biologist Dr. Sultan Ahmed Ismail about the role of healthy soils in biodiversity, climate, and sustainable food systems. The podcast is produced by the Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad and Eco Galaxy in collaboration with RoundGlass Sustain and brings together international researchers to discuss issues related to the environment and sustainability. The approximately one-hour episode is available in English.
Link to the podcast on YouTube
In this interview, Ingrid Kögel-Knabner describes how she discovered soil science while studying the then-new field of geoecology. What drew her in was the connection between ecological questions and geoscientific perspectives. At the same time, she was fascinated by the immediate tangibility of her research subject: soils can be seen, touched, and directly examined in all their diversity.
One of the main topics covered in the talk is how to keep soil healthy in the long term. Ingrid Kögel-Knabner highlights the importance of organic matter for soil structure, fertility and erosion control. The regular return of harvest residues or compost strengthens the soil microbiome and stabilizes agricultural systems. Soils should be considered as complex biological systems rather than just in terms of their chemical nutrient values.
She also highlights potential connections between soil health, the soil microbiome and the human microbiome. This is an area of research that is gaining more and more attention in the context of the One Health concept.
In addition, the discussion addresses the effects of climate change on agricultural soils. Rising temperatures can accelerate the microbial deterioration of organic matter, leading to carbon losses. Ingrid Kögel-Knabner is an advocate of long-term field studies and greater diversity in cultivation and crop rotation to improve the resilience of agricultural systems in the face of changing climatic conditions.