THE STORY OF SOIL

SOIL is a six-part documentary podcast told by the scientists, farmers and communities who are turning dirt back into soil.

I'm Freya Mulvey. I'm an environmental lawyer and co-author of the book Ground Breaking: Soil Security & Climate Change.  Knowing what I know about the magic of soils I have so much hope for the future, and I want to share that with you.

There are more living organisms in a handful of healthy soil than there are people on earth and the billions of bacteria do for plants what the microbes in our stomachs do for us: sustain life. 

This podcast tells a timely and hopeful climate story that will empower communities, farmers and scientists. But we need your help!

SOIL will be a free, accessible and entertaining series. We've already recorded powerful interviews with soil scientists, fungal ecologists, regenerative farmers, journalists and soil advocates across the world. Your support will go directly towards our next stage of production, and ensuring we can have maximum impact. 

THE PODCAST

Listen to a sample of SOIL here

Dust bowls to dinosaur dung fertilisers, Big Ag and Big Food, the rise and fall of civilisations, the sound of earthworms moving underground, farmers going against the grain, bringing life back into their soils and seeing wildlife, insects, birds and water return to the land... this is just a taste of the stories in the series told by the scientists, farmers and communities who are turning degraded dirt back into fertile soil.  

Why a docu-series podcast?

There are plenty of chat-style podcasts about soil and regen ag, but this will be the first narrative documentary, complete with recordings of the life within soil, music, sound design and beautiful storytelling. 

SOIL will be a free, entertaining and educational podcast made for everyday people and available worldwide to connect to the hidden life beneath our feet. 

Jess Hamilton is our podcast producer. Jess has produced award-winning audio documentary series for CSIRO, Audible, Greenpeace, Sydney Opera House and ABC Radio National. She also holds a Masters in Marine Science with research into acoustic ecology.

THE SCIENCE

Soil is the foundation of life. It is central to food, feed, fibre and fuel production, as well as, biodiversity protection, carbon sequestration, and climate regulation. The state of our land and, particularly the biology of our soils, changes how heat is absorbed, processed and emitted, and consequently how heat effects atmospheric processes. And the capacity of soils to retain water helps both to prevent and respond to disaster risks as healthy soils have an inherent capacity to absorb, store and filter water. 

Centuries of land mismanagement have degraded the Earth’s soil, damaging a vital planetary mechanism for retaining water and mitigating heat - accelerating damage to the environment, altering our climate and putting our health and food security at risk. 

The good news? Healthy soil can be rebuilt in a matter of years and we have all the tools we need. 

This podcast will be a foundation from which we can advocate for greater impact, including policy and law reform concerning soils.

In 2024 Freya travelled to India, China, the US and UK on a Churchill Fellowship, to bring lessons in best practice soil security from experts across the world back to Australia. Freya took this photo at Urban Farms Co outside of Delhi whilst in India.

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

• Pledge your support to this campaign!
• Subscribe to Soil on Spotify or any other podcast platform
• Attend one of our fundraising events - we're hosting Dirty Trivia during Climate Action Week, and organising screenings of Common Ground, Roots So Deep, and Fungi Web of Life around Australia
• Learn about soil and regenerative agriculture, shop regen products 
• Write to your member (Local, State and Federal Government), and accountable Ministers and ask them to support soil restoration projects in your area

When can we listen to SOIL?

Our goal is to deliver the podcast to you from mid-2025 but this depends on this campaign being successful! In the meantime, you can listen to a trailer and subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

What have you done so far?

We've nearly finished Episode 1. We've interviewed fungal ecologists, biologists, geologists, soil scientists, regen farmers and communities, connected with many more and have mapped the entire series. We've also connected with the various peak bodies and people in the industry to consult on our work and seek support for the series.  Check out thesoilpodcast.com for more info.

John Cherry, regen farmer & Co-Founder of Groundswell Festival (UK) features in the podcast

... That's just for SOIL the podcast. Freya also continues her soil policy and law reform advocacy work in the background.

CROWDFUNDING

How does the funding campaign work?

With Pozible we’re using an all or nothing fundraising approach - we're confident that the community cares, and continues to want to advance climate action. If we don't reach our target by midnight March 16th (AEST) then you don’t get charged. 

What will the $15K be used for?

Freya's fronted the money to cover development and recording. Community support will help us produce the first 3 episodes.  To produce the remainder of the series we are approaching values-aligned sponsors and applying for grants. (See the budget overview below for more)

What do I get for supporting?

Foremost you get to feel good - yep, you can be smug, you're helping tell the story of soil! And, depending on how much you donate you might get a postcard, poster, signed book, an invitation to our launch event, your name in the credits.

THE BACKSTORY

At the turn of the 20th century, a 3,000km fence was built across the Australian continent to prevent the spread of invasive rabbits into cropland in Western Australia. Decades later, scientists and farmers begun to notice an unusual phenomenon. The weather was completely different on either side of the fence.

The ‘Bunny Fence Experiment’ was the world’s largest study of two contrasting land uses in the same vast region, showing strong evidence that clearing and cropping was the reason why rainfall over the Western Australian Wheat Belt had dropped 20%.

It is this story that begins the book that Senior Lawyer and Environmentalist Freya Mulvey co-wrote with soil scientist Phil Mulvey: Ground Breaking: Soil Security and Climate Change which was released in 2021. It tells of how, by degrading soils, modern agriculture has contributed to heat waves, dust and fire across the planet. It also shares the solutions: managing land use, sequestering carbon in soil, and reducing bare ground.

In 2023, Freya was rewarded a Churchill Fellowship to travel to the US, UK, India and China to learn about soil policy and laws around the world. On her return she partnered with award-winning producer Jess Hamilton to bring this important story to broader audiences through entertaining storytelling in SOIL - the podcast.

It costs approximately AU$10K to produce and promote each episode to the highest quality and for maximum impact. 

We are approaching values aligned sponsors and will be applying for grant funding to assist with our impact campaign. 

Our costs include (breakdown in graphic below): 

• Recording fees, including travel to remote farms, recording equipment, overseas studio and recordist fees for international talent and studio fees for recording host narration
• Script writing and audio editing x 6 episodes
• Fact checking 
• Music licensing fees including theme music, composition and licnesing library music
• Licensing archival audio material 
• Sound design and mix
• Podcast artwork and visual assets related to the podcast, website and promotional material
• Squarespace website costs

And here's a breakdown of our total income. Producer Jess and Host Freya are contributing a portion of their time for free, and all our fabulous talent have generously given their time at no cost.

Any additional money raised by this community above $15 will go directly toward production of the remaining episodes of SOIL and reduce sponsorship. Funds beyond our budget will used for ongoing advocacy.