“Irrigation, agriculture, climate change: How are our soils faring?”

Join us for the 2025 edition of the Bar des Sciences with the event: “Irrigation, Agriculture, and Climate Change: How Are Our Soils Faring?”

A Science Bar dedicated to soil health

Whether it is soft, dry, sloped, or paved, the ground is most often perceived in our daily lives as a simple surface: the ground we walk on, and a valuable asset to own. Upon further reflection, we arrive at the concept of a substrate: it is in the ground that the plants we eat and use every day take root.

However, soil is not merely a resource; it is an ecosystem, just like water, for example: it has a complex composition that is subject to chemical processes, and it is home to numerous living organisms, ranging from microscopic bacteria to mammals weighing several kilograms. There is a whole world living right beneath our feet. Soil health depends on multiple factors, both internal and external; some are internal, such as its composition, while others are external, such as climate or pressures from human activities.

Soil science, the study of soils, examines this environment and focuses on it as its subject of study. Scientists study the composition of soil layers, irrigation, agriculture, flora and fauna, fungi, and more, providing us with a better understanding of this environment on which life on our planet absolutely depends.

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

• Alain BRAUMAN: soil ecologist, research director at IRD, and president of the French Association for Soil Studies (AFES). His research focuses on the impact of agricultural practices on soil biofunctioning (soil health) at 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 at the Eco&Sols laboratory (Eco&Sols – INRAE, IRD, Institut Agro Montpellier, and CIRAD).
• Thierry RUF: Emeritus Research Director at IRD. He is an agronomist and geographer at the “Environmental Knowledge and Societies” (SENS) laboratory (IRD, CIRAD, and Paul-Valéry-Montpellier University). He leads a professional group focused on the social management of water.