The Grounded Minds Consortium: Researching the soil, gut, brain, and mind connection

The world is facing a ‘polycrisis’ of escalating neuropsychiatric disorders, chronic disease, ecosystem degradation and failing food systems. These challenges are deeply interlinked, reflecting a broader disconnection between human health and soil health. The Grounded Minds Consortium brings together leading researchers and practitioners from nutritional psychiatry, microbiome and physiological sciences, public health nutrition, regenerative agriculture (and other sustainable farming practices), bioinformatics, systems thinking, and soil ecology, to reimagine this relationship and develop integrated, evidence-based solutions. We propose a systems-level framework that positions soil health as a human health intervention, community-based farming as a social and therapeutic tool, and microbiota-gut-brain research to inform both public health and sustainable food policy. Our approach acknowledges the growing evidence of microbial interconnections between ecological and mental health, while centring place-based knowledge, equity, a co-benefits mindset, relationships, and transdisciplinary collaboration as foundational principles for systemic change. By cultivating regenerative feedback loops among ecosystem restoration, nutritional quality driven by nutrient-dense foods, microbial diversity (in the soil and gut), and mental and brain health, we aim to transform food systems from drivers of disease to engines of healing. The Consortium positions knowledge of the soil-microbiota-brain connection as central to transforming food systems and planetary wellbeing.