New tech is making progress in boosting soil health.

That might mean new tools. Farm equipment suppliers such as John Deere are now introducing "no-till machinery" - farm equipment that is designed to cause minimum disturbance to the soil.

These include seed planters that drop seeds into small holes rather than using a big blade to dig a long trench.

Or it may mean using robots that can help plant and weed in a more gentle way. One such device is the Robotti, made by Danish agricultural tech firm AgroIntelli. The development of this was helped by UK musician-turned-organic farmer Andy Cato, from the band Groove Armada, who tested early versions.

Meanwhile, cover crops - those that are not harvested, but instead planted to stop the earth being left bare - help to improve soil structure by increasing the organic matter in it.

Ultimately though, says Mr Raskin, we may need to take the focus away from above-ground solutions and dig a little deeper.

"Much of the tech focus in farming has been on the chemical [pesticides] and physical [machinery], but now it is time to start thinking about biology," he says.

Currently it is believed that scientists have identified only around 10% of soil life.

Prof Montgomery says that for too long "the whole world that is below ground was kind of invisible to science". He adds: "Soil is one of the last big frontiers of science - to understand what is going on in it."

Understanding the make-up of soil could spawn whole new industries, such as biotech that focuses on gene sequencing the microbes in the soil, in an effort to provide farmers with the best nutrients for their land.

Going back to simple and old-fashioned techniques can also throw up interesting and potentially radical ideas.

One experiment, conducted as part of the Soil Association's Innovative Farmers programme, used willow woodchip mulch around trees in order to suppress weeds and disease. It was discovered that the acid in it actually stimulated an immune reaction in the trees.

And the soil beneath our feet may hold the secrets to some much wider human medicinal breakthroughs.

Natural products from soil's microbiome are a promising source of medicinal compounds, according to an article in Chemistry World.

It points out that teixobactin - a toxin that could give rise to the first new class of antibiotics in 30 years - was discovered by sifting through soil samples.

For farmers worried about the quality of their soil - but unwilling to part with their underpants - there are more modern ways of measuring it.

Soil samples can be sent off to a laboratory to be tested, although this can be expensive and time-consuming. In the age of data and internet connectivity, smartphones can provide another solution.

Jack Ingle is the director of Harvest Agri, a UK firm that sells a device called a microbiometer soil test. Farmers take a soil sample, and add it to a test tube with a special solution, which is then transferred to paper.

With a free app available on both Android and iPhone, the sample can be scanned to reveal a number that designates how many fungal and bacterial microbes are present.

And it is not just farmers who are measuring the quality of the soil.

A group of scientists have created a database of soil health measurements from sites across the globe called SoilHealthDB. And last year the EU established the EU Soil Observatory to collect and track soil data, and to support soil research and policy development.

But much of the future of farming technology could be about learning from the past, thinks Prof Montgomery.

"It's taking some of the ancient wisdom, like crop rotation and cover crops, and to merge that in new ways with modern technology - the sensors, the robots and the prospecting for microbial inoculants [beneficial micro-organisms]," he says.