Anna Krzywoszynska

While the role of non-human nature in agroecology has been widely examined at the level of farm practice, its contribution to movement building and broader societal transformation remains underexplored. Drawing on scholarship on attentiveness and more-than-human affect, this article examines how encounters with soils can mobilise agroecological change beyond individual farms. Based on participant observation and interviews with agroecological farmers participating in peasant-to-peasant soil gatherings in the Netherlands, we analyse three interrelated dimensions of attentiveness: noticing, sensing, and nourishing responsibility. Microscope-based encounters with soil organisms fostered shifts in farmers’ perceptions of soils as vibrant and agentic more-than-human participants rather than passive resources, motivating collective learning and experimentation. Embodied sensing practices supported adaptation in everyday farming practices, while collective reflection within peasant-to-peasant gatherings enabled farmers to challenge productivist values, legitimise experiential knowledge, and address structural constraints such as insecure land access. We argue that social movements play a crucial role in amplifying the transformative potential of attentiveness by embedding affective encounters within collective learning networks and political organising. The article contributes to scholarship on agroecological and food systems transformations by showing how non-human lives participate not only in farm ecologies but also in processes of movement building and socio-ecological transformation

The soil microbiome provides many functions that play an important part in food production. Microbial inoculants are one method of directly boosting specific functions by introducing key microbes, for instance rhizobia—the nitrogen‐fixing partners of legumes. However, the use of inoculants is quite variable amongst food growers. Previous research suggests this is largely due to inconsistent results of trials, but such studies typically only focus on growers' experiences at the ‘end of the research and development pipeline’, i.e., after the inoculants have been developed, packaged and sold on the market. In contrast, this paper investigates how growers' understandings and experiences can be used to shape microbial inoculant research and development. Incorporating insights about grower approaches to, and knowledge of soil microbes is vital for understanding attitudes to inoculation, and should ultimately inform future product development. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 28 UK legume growers (large‐scale to medium‐scale arable, organic, and dairy farmers, and urban growers i.e., small‐scale home gardeners and allotment holders) to understand the different attitudes of participants towards the soil microbiome and soil inoculants. In addition, we also highlight the motivations, practices and assessment techniques that growers use in line with their attitudes as actions towards the soil and explicitly, the soil microbiome. We find that growers have a deep connection to their soil ecology and actively invest their efforts in supporting it through diverse, sometimes creative methods. Interest in inoculants is limited however, with participants overall favouring home‐grown approaches to supporting their soil microbiome.

Soil literacy, defined as the combination of attitudes, behaviours, and competencies necessary to make informed decisions that promote soil health, is increasingly recognised as a crucial element for sustainable development. This article presents the outcomes of the Soil Literacy Think Tank established under the Soils for Europe (SOLO) project, which aims to identify research and innovation knowledge gaps to strengthen soil literacy in Europe. Drawing on literature reviews, stakeholder engagement, and interdisciplinary dialogue, the paper highlights 18 prioritised knowledge gaps across different topics. These include a lack of integrated pedagogical strategies, limited outreach to specific social groups, and underdeveloped communication methods linking soil knowledge to stewardship actions. The article proposes adaptive and inclusive approaches to soil education that respect multiple knowledge systems and values and emphasises the importance of embedding soil literacy into sustainability agendas and governance processes. By addressing these challenges, the paper contributes to broader efforts supporting the EU Soil Mission and the goals of World Soil Day by promoting public awareness, citizen engagement, and responsible soil care.

Scholars from all disciplines are becoming increasingly conscious of the co-dependence between humans and more-than-humans. This special collection engages these debates, guided by a question both practical and theoretical: What makes good relationships between humans and nonhumans in societies under strain? The essays collected in this issue explore this question through different cases of more-than-human relationality. In this introduction, we briefly present these contributions, placing them in dialogue with the concept of the contact zone. The contact zone, we argue, provides a powerful conceptual tool for thinking about the how as well as the why in human–more-than-human encounters, as it highlights the materiality and constructedness of more-than-human affects and ethics. Thus, the first part of this introduction highlights how the different contributions to the special issue further the conceptual work ushered by the concept of the contact zone. Furthermore, we make a contribution to the growing literature on more-than-human contact zones by drawing attention to the tensions and frictions that necessarily appear within these. What may be helpful in understanding and navigating these tensions, we argue, is the concept of more than-human negotiation. We believe that this ecological view of contact zones opens up an exciting new arena for more-than-human research. Keywords: more-than-human, contact zones, negotiation, entanglements, relationality, special issue

Regenerative agriculture is promoted as a farming system that can improve agricultural sustainability, address soil degradation, and provide ecosystem service benefits. However, there remains limited evidence for the quantifiable benefits of a widespread transition to regenerative agriculture on soil, biodiversity, and crop quality, particularly at the landscape scale, and poor integration of findings across disciplines. Social and cultural aspects of the transition, such as the positioning of regenerative agriculture as a grassroots movement, farmers’ perspectives on defining regenerative practices, and social or political barriers to implementation, are harder to quantify and often overlooked in evidence-based approaches. Here, we present the detailed methodology for our interdisciplinary, co-designed landscape-scale experiment measuring changes in soil health, biodiversity, yield, and grain quality, as well as social and political dimensions of the implementation of regenerative practices. Our unique approach, through the co-production process, the landscape-scale, and the focus on a systemic transition instead of individual practices, will bring strong evidence of the benefits of regenerative agriculture for sustained agricultural productivity, the mitigation of climate change and biodiversity depletion in agroecosystems. Our research aims to guide future studies transforming theoretical ecology into testable hypotheses in real-world systems and provide actionable evidence to inform agricultural policies in the UK and beyond.