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What happens when industrial farming kills all nutrients, bacteria and microbes that live in the rhizosphere? What happens when agrochemicals drive endophytes to near

extinction? How will food taste? What will it look like? Will it grow at all? How will humans build a biodiverse society of gut microbiota necessary for immunity?

As a result of industrial farming there has been a severe depletion of key bacteria that live in soil, this means that food no longer posses the same nutrients. Along side

this, an excessive use of antibiotics, a lack of contact with soil and fecal matter and hygienic lifestyles, has lead to a rise in resilient super bugs, whilst also having a negative

impact on soil biodiversity. In essence removing humans from a symbiotic cycle of mutual benefit with plants and soil.

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When we no longer have access to these crucial microbiota, the main solution is to look into biohacking. The idea of taking endophytes that live in plants and explore their potential. Isolate these microorganisms, understand how they benefit individual plants and use them to inoculate others. Gut microbiota will be grown outside the body and added to these mutated plants to create organisms that can fuel the revitalisation of our ecosystem. With a long term goal of essentially re-establishing the relationship between humans and bacteria. Initially this process will work on a trial basis with a select group of individuals, who will undergo DNA screening and testing to aid design and refinement of the process, and quality of product. Over time as the quality of product improves and trials become more successful, there should be a detectable change in the soil and rhizosphere of Sheffield land. By taking individuals from around Sheffield, it will encourage widespread regeneration of soil, aiding in the process of moving away from industrial farming. These individuals will benefit from the programme acquiring necessary bacteria that encourage health and immunity. Not yet government approved and using illegal and imported weeds, and fecal samples as a resilient foundation to grow new plants, this programme will operate on a confidential basis.

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Hosting this concept in a Cemetery I feel holds a sense of irony. In that this is a place where its once primary purpose was to facilitate funerals and act as a resting place for the dead. Where as my concept is to use it as a place that will promote regeneration. Another factor very key to the concept is the earth on which the chapel sits. It has been host to tens of thousands of bodies that have decomposed and given back to the ecosystem. These bodies, being from the 1800s would have had a significantly richer gut microbiota due to a lack of hygiene, medicine and industrial farming. Hypothetically the soil in the cemetery should be a lot more densely populated with bacteria than that of the surrounding area, making it the perfect place to take samples from as a medium to revitalise the rhizosphere and the plants it nourishes.

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My concept is very much based in reality, a scenario where there is a global fear surrounding health and access to medicine and an agricultural crisis. The context of this

proposal very much plays on the idea of this being a near future scenario. By taking a large issue such as agriculture, showing how it impacts individuals, and setting it in a

world not too dissimilar to our own will hopefully lead to a proposal that makes people think about what they want for the future and how they can change the narrative.

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