Microplastics are everywhere, and not just floating in oceans or showing up in drinking water headlines. Increasingly, they’re turning up in a place that feels a lot closer to home: our soil.

Every year in the United States, National Agriculture Day rolls around as a reminder of something we rely on every single day but rarely think about: the system that feeds us. But here’s the thing, agriculture today isn’t just about tractors and barns anymore.

Every so often, a story comes along that feels like a plotline from a feel-good indie film: a teenager, a global problem, and a breakthrough that actually works. But this isn’t fiction. A high school student recently developed a water filtration system capable of removing up to 96% of microplastics from drinking water, according to Smithsonian Magazine.