India, Sept. 22 -- Soil is the next gold - this is as down-to-earth as it can be. This stepped-on material, which we take for granted, holds the key to so much we need to change in our world - from increased productivity, so we can grow more food, to sequestering carbon that is pushing temperatures to catastrophic levels. But this requires revisiting our understanding of what makes soil rich and what makes it tick.

Science is relearning this knowledge, bringing renewed focus to the wealth below, not just the plants above ground. The fact is, we are so much poorer because we do not accept that soil is a living being; that its health is measured by the millions of micro-organisms, bacteria and fungi living in it. This is the future.

Let's...