Introduction  3

1 Why soils, why now? The science of the foundation  4

1.1 Soil as the master variable  4

1.2 The crack in the foundation  6

2 The business case for soil health  7

2.1 Dependency made visible  7

2.2 How healthy soils create business value  10

2.3 Beyond dependency: Business shaping soil outcomes  12

3 Evidence in practice  13

3.1 Case studies  13

3.2 What the evidence tells us  18

3.3 Making soil health measurable and actionable  19

4 Collective action and transition pathways  20

4.1 Policy  20

4.2 Business  21

4.3 Finance  22

4.4 Science, data and evidence  24

4.5 The collective action imperative  25

5 Five actions for business  27

Contributors  28

Endnotes  30