The 1st Annual Food Tank Summit will be held from 21-22 January 2015 in Washington D.C. focusing on topics such as food waste, urban agriculture, family farmers and farm workers.

In the lead up to the event, Food Tank has published an interview with Diana Donlon, Cool Food Campaign Director at the Center for Food Safety, one of the speakers at the summit.

Donlon believes rebuilding soil health on a global scale is critical to addressing climate and food security problems.

“We can rebuild soil by adopting regenerative agriculture, including poly-culture, cover cropping, agroforestry and nutrient recycling, and through organic soil amendments like compost and biochar,” says Donlon. “All that stands in our way is political will.”

She outlines the many benefits of healthy soil, including improved yields, greater availability of nutrients in food, increased retention and supply of fresh water and greater carbon storage.

Donlon attributes widespread disregard for soil as the basis of our food system as having led to desertification, hunger and climate instability.

Read the full story: Five Questions with the Center for Food Safety’s Diana Donlon