"Irrigation, farming, climate change: how are our soils doing?"

Continue the 2025 edition of the Bar des Sciences with the evening event: "Irrigation, farming, climate change: how are our soils doing?".

A Science Bar dedicated to soil health

Whether loose, dry, sloping or tarmac, soil is most often perceived in our daily lives as a simple surface: the plane on which we walk, and an asset to be possessed. On closer examination, we come to the idea of substrate: it's in the soil that the plants we eat and use on a daily basis take root.

However, soil is not just a resource, it's an environment, just like water, for example: it has a complex composition, subject to chemical phenomena, and is home to numerous living beings, from microscopic bacteria to mammals weighing several kilos. A whole world lives beneath our feet. Soil health depends on multiple parameters, both internal and external, some of which are internal, such as its composition, and others external, such as climate or the pressures exerted by human activities.

Pedology, the study of soils, looks at this environment and takes it as its object of study. Scientists study the composition of soil layers, irrigation, agriculture, fauna and flora, fungi, etc., giving us a better understanding of this environment on which life on our planet is absolutely dependent.

To discuss this topic, three multidisciplinary experts will answer questions from the audience:

• Alain BRAUMAN: soil ecologist, Director of Research at IRD and President of the French Soil Study Association (AFES). His research focuses on the impact of agricultural practices on soil biofunction (soil health) within the Eco&Sols laboratory (Eco&Sols - INRAE, IRD, Institut Agro Montpellier and CIRAD).
• Mickael HEDDE: ecologist and research director at INRAE. His research focuses on the ecology of soil organisms within the Eco&Sols laboratory (Eco&Sols - INRAE, IRD, Institut Agro Montpellier and CIRAD).
• Thierry RUF: Director of Research Emeritus at IRD. He is an agronomist and geographer in the "Savoirs environnement et sociétés" laboratory (SENS - IRD, CIRAD and Université Paul-Valéry-Montpellier). He leads a professional group on the social management of water.