Soil life boosts productivity

 

Healthy soil is living soil. Biological activity and diversity are critical benchmarks of healthy soil because each soil organism has its own special functions. These soil organisms digest soil organic matter and convert it into substances used by plants and other soil organisms.
 
Soil is the most complex and diverse ecosystem on earth, with more than a billion microorganisms representing some 10,000 species of life per thimbleful, all interconnected in complex food chains, breaking down organic matter into smaller and smaller "bites" that feed crop plants and act as storehouses for water and nutrients.
 
These living organisms in soil—including microorganisms like algae and fungi and macroorganisms such as worms and beneficial insects—form a "soil food web" that works very much like a spiderweb. The more strands this web contains, the more likely it is to catch food and hold nutrients. The more creatures you have eating and being eaten in your soil, the more nutrients will be cycling in the system and available to your plants.
 
Healthy soil means healthier and more productive crops. Organic farming practices improve soil cumulatively over time. This cumulative soil improvement:
 
•        Increases biological activity.
•        Makes the soil a better host for plants.
•        Improves soil structure.
•        Improves soil moisture holding and drainage capacity.
•        Can help reduce negative environmental impacts of agriculture, such as nitrate leaching and erosion.
•        And best of all, helps increase your land's productivity and your profits each year!
 
  

 

Research

In side-by-side comparisons at the Rodale Institute over 25 years, organically managed crops surpassed production levels of chemically raised crops by 28 to 34% in drought years. This has been associated with a 25 to 50% increase in soil water infiltration.