Recently, TV3's NewsHub alerted New Zealanders to the loss of some of our best quality soils to urban expansion [watch the story here]. There has been a tendency in New Zealand to think of ourselves as a country rich with fertile, soils, capable of producing food almost without limit. But in fact a mere five percent of our soils have the fertility required to produce vegetables and other high-value crops. Unfortunately much of this five percent is concentrated around urban ar