ROME – To mark World Soil Day on Thursday, IBM unveiled “soil sculptures” outside the Roma Convention Centre aiming to raise awareness of issues of soil degradation and to encourage more sustainable farming practices.

 Soil erosion and degradation is one of today’s critical challenges about which many are unaware.

 According to Rome-based UN agency the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) the equivalent of one football field of soil is eroded every five seconds, and unless action is taken the world could only have 60 years of farming left, FAO reports. Yet statistics collected by IBM in advance of World Soil Day found that only 16 per cent of British people are very concerned about soil degradation, and only 43 per cent of Italians.

 Nevertheless, these figures rose sharply once people were made aware of the risks, to 92 per cent for Italian consumers and 77 per cent for Britons saying they were more concerned once informed that soil could be exhausted by 2060 if non-sustainable agricultural practices continue.

 World Soil Day is held annually on Dec. 5 to draw attention to the importance of maintaining healthy soil and to encourage sustainable management of soil, the UN says.

 On World Soil Day this year, in addition to the soil sculptures, IBM began a new initiative with American charity Enveritas, which aims to bring sustainable practices for the social and economic development of small coffee farmers.

 IBM and Enveritas signed a joint project to pilot the AgroPad, a new technology developed by IBM Research which allows the remote chemical analysis of soil in just 10 seconds, IBM said.

 im