Soil: THE NEXT GOLD: The Global Scramble for Earth's Final Finite Resource and the Future of Food, Capital, and Power (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798177439761)

What if one of the world's most valuable assets is the one beneath our feet?

Soil is more than dirt. It is the biological foundation of food production, a reservoir of carbon, a regulator of water, and a critical component of economic and national resilience.

Yet the world has spent decades measuring what agriculture produces while paying far less attention to the productive capacity of the soil producing it.

SOIL: THE NEXT GOLD explores the emerging global competition for productive land, soil health, agricultural inputs, water, biotechnology, carbon markets, and the biological systems that sustain food production.

From the hidden economy of soil microbes to the rise of regenerative agriculture, from farmland investment and large-scale land acquisitions to fertilizer geopolitics and agricultural biotechnology, this book examines the forces turning soil from an overlooked foundation of civilization into a measurable economic and strategic asset.

Inside, you will explore:

- Why productive soil can be understood as a form of biological capital
- How erosion, nutrient loss, and declining soil function can create hidden economic costs
- Why farmland is increasingly viewed as an investment and strategic asset
- How soil microbes, mycorrhizae, carbon, and biological processes influence agricultural productivity
- The emerging economics of soil carbon, carbon credits, MRV, and ecosystem services
- How regenerative agriculture attempts to rebuild productive capacity while continuing to farm
- The race to develop microbial technologies, biochar, enhanced rock weathering, and other biological tools
- Why phosphate and potash supply chains matter for global food security
- How environmental stress, agricultural dependence, and geopolitical vulnerability can intersect
- Why national wealth accounting may need to measure the condition of productive natural assets more explicitly
- The proposed Sovereign Soil Standard-a framework for treating productive soil as measurable natural capital and food-system infrastructure

This is not a book arguing that modern agriculture should simply be abandoned or that technology is the problem. It asks a different question:

Can humanity increase agricultural production without quietly consuming the biological asset that makes future production possible?

The answer will shape the economics of food, the value of farmland, the future of agriculture, and the strategic power of nations.

The next great resource race may not be beneath the ocean or in outer space.

It may be beneath our feet.