Comments on ‘First signs that national cropland organic carbon loss is reversing in British topsoils’ by Bentley et al.

Abstract

In an analysis of the most recent data from the UKCEH Countryside Survey, Bentley et al. (2025) find a modest increase in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks of topsoil in croplands across Great Britain from 2007 to 2020, and they suggest this is the first evidence of a reversal of soil carbon loss at national scale anywhere, linked to improvements in land management. This is a significant claim, and the paper is likely to be highly cited. However, some important caveats are apparent from a close reading of the paper, and the results need to be treated with caution. The authors do say this but in drawing conclusions they appear to overlook this caution and the necessary caveats.