“Humus is the stuff in the handful of soil that gives it its blackish cast and characteristic smell. It’s hard to say exactly what humus is because it is so many things. Humus is what’s left of organic matter after it has been broken down by the billions of big and small organisms that inhabit a spoonful of earth – the bacteria, phages, fungi, and earthworms responsible for decomposition. (The psalmist who described life as a transit from ‘dust to dust’ would have been more accurate to say ‘humus to humus’). But humus is not a final product of decomposition so much as a stage, since a whole other group of organisms slowly breaks humus down into the chemical elements plants need to grow, elements including, but not limited to, nitrogen, phosporous, and potassium. This process is a much biological as chemical, involving the symbiosis of plants and mycorrhizal fungi that live in and among their roots; the fungi offer soluble nutrients to the roots, receiving a drop of sucrose in return. Another critical symbiotic relationship links plants to the bacteria in humus-rich soil that fix atmospheric nitrogen, putting it into a form that plants can use. But providing a buffer of nutrients in plants is not the only thing humus does: It also serves as the glue that binds the minute mineral particles in soil together into airy crumbs and holds water in suspension so that rainfall remains available to plant roots instead of seeping away.” The Ominivore’s Diet, Michael Pollan, Ch.9 Big Organic, p.147
The Soil Health Institute is a non-profit whose mission is to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soil through scientific research and advancement. The Institute works with its many stakeholders to identify gaps in research and adoption; develop strategies, networks and funding to address those gaps; and ensure beneficial impact of those investments to agriculture, the environment and society.
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Soil is a living universe beneath our feet. As important to our lives as clean air and water, soil also holds a potential solution to the global climate crisis. Increasing numbers of scientists, farmers and ranchers are implementing innovative land use practices that build fertile soil and sequester atmospheric carbon These methods of land management have the potential to provide us with nutritious food, improved human health, cleaner water, and a healthier planet for all. World wide, most soils are depleted of carbon. The atmosphere contains an excess of carbon in the form of CO2, a climate change causing gas. What if that CO2 could be removed and stored in our carbon-hungry soil through land management practices? Find out how in The Soil Solution. The Soil Solution to Climate Change was one of thirteen films featured in A Climate of Change Tour sponsored by 350.org, TRUST campaign and Wild and Scenic Film Festival. It has screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sausalito Film Festival, Awareness Festival, Davis Film Festival, Wild and Scenic Film Tour 2013 and the One Earth Film Festival.
Regenerative agriculture is an ecological approach to agriculture that enables natural systems & functions to not just be renewed, but also to do the renewing: to self-organise back to healthy function, a radical idea of empowering and not controlling nature. In this talk, Charlie Massy OA draws on his decades of farming experience and research to propose new ways of farming that don’t harm the land and the planet in the way industrial agricultural practices can. Along the way, he shares some of his own personal journey of learning and change, and explains how he came to be the regenerative farming advocate he is today.
This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxCanberra, an independent event.
Our soils support 95 percent of all food production, and by 2060, our soils will be asked to give us as much food as we have consumed in the last 500 years. They filter our water. They are one of our most cost-effective reservoirs for sequestering carbon. They are our foundation for biodiversity. And they are vibrantly alive, teeming with 10,000 pounds of biological life in every acre. Yet in the last 150 years, we’ve lost half of the basic building block that makes soil productive. The societal and environmental costs of soil loss and degradation in the United States alone are now estimated to be as high as $85 billion every single year. Like any relationship, our living soil needs our tenderness. It’s time we changed everything we thought we knew about soil. Let’s make this the century of living soil. This 60-minute documentary features innovative farmers and soil health experts from throughout the U.S. Accompanying lesson plans for college and high school students will can also be found on this site. “Living Soil” was directed by Chelsea Myers and Tiny Attic Productions based in Columbia, Missouri, and produced by the Soil Health Institute through the generous support of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.
In this film, organic market gardeners Frank and Josje talk about why the supermarket system doesn’t work and how Community Supported Agriculture fits into a new story for food growing. CSA members help farmers to grow the best quality vegetables and to nurture healthy soils by committing to receive a vegetable box every week for a season. That way, the farmer can get on with growing great food and sending it direct to their customers, without having to accommodate the profit-geared demands of the supermarket chains, which drive conventional growers to produce less nutritious vegetables in ways that damage the soil. This is the future of food, a future in which both people and planet are healthier! Wairarapa Eco Farm: http://wefs.co.nz
Learn about the Types of Soil: sand, silt and clay. Sand soil is made up of larger granules and won’t hold its shape when wet. Sand soil absorbs water very quickly. Silt soil is made up of medium-sized granules and has a flour-like texture when dry. Silt soil can’t hold its shape well when wet. It absorbs water more slowly than sand soil. Clay soil holds its shape very well when wet and is made up of very small granules that make a hard crust after a rain. Clay soil absorbs water the slowest. Add compost to sand soil to slow water absorption and to decrease water runoff from clay soil. Find out the characteristics of your soil by sending a sample to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Soil Testing Lab: http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/ This video was created by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Starr County in collaboration with Gladiator Television Network in Roma, Texas as a part of the Growing and Nourishing Healthy Communities Grant provided by the USDA.
This animated film tells the reality of soil resources around the world, covering the issues of degradation, urbanization, land grabbing and overexploitation; the film offers options to make the way we manage our soils more sustainable.
Subtitles available in Spanish here
This short film, produced by Alegría Fresh and Café Gratitude, introduces us to what’s under our feet.
Meet Allen Williams, Gabe Brown and Neil Dennis – heroes and innovators! These ranchers now know how to regenerate their soils while making their animals healthier and their operations more profitable. They are turning ON their soils, enabling rainwater to sink into the earth rather than run off. And these turned ON soils retain that water, so the ranches are much more resilient in drought. It’s an amazing story that has just begun.
Fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial agriculture have released dangerous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. We can store and stabilize large amounts of carbon where it belongs – in the soil.
Soil is the foundation for an abundant and healthy garden. Here are 5 tips that will build you awesome soil.
Today we visted Master Gardener Doug Jones at his home in the Phoenix suburbs. Doug has been growing tropicals and subtropicals in his yard for almost 30 years, and helped found the Arizona division of the California Rare Fruit Growers group. Doug is an inspiration in that he has learned through trial and error what the majority of us have learned through YouTube videos: how to build a healthy soil that allows bananas and guavas to thrive in the desert. Plants require food and water to grow. The best way to provide this for them is to construct a rich, fertile soil by applying layer upon layer of organic material, or mulch. Mulch is found in various forms, such as wood chips, grass clippings, pine needles, or palm fronds. The benefits of mulch are endless: you are increasing moisture retention, cutting watering costs, providing a habitat for microbes and insects, regulating soil temperature, and building up a natural layer of compost to feed your trees. Nature has been mulching for millions of years. Every time a tree sheds its leaves or falls over and rots, Nature is applying her own layer of organic material to feed worms and microbes.
The science behind the soil
Fertile, healthy soil is essential for agriculture and food security. Without it we couldn’t grow the food we need to live. But it’s at risk from many different threats: erosion, degradation, poor soil management, desertification and urbanization. Syngenta works with growers to help them restore the fertility of the soil they farm. We’ve committed to improve the fertility of 10 million hectares of farmland on the brink of degradation. Visit http://www.goodgrowthplan.com to find out more.
Learn what makes plants grow and how you can cultivate a thriving, sustainable garden – the natural way. “Life in the Soil” explains the science behind healthy soil. Microbes, like bacteria and fungi, provide essential nutrients that help plants grow. However, human activity can deplete soils of these valuable microbes. Planting with certified organic soils and amendments helps restore the symbiotic relationship between plants and environment, which stimulates growth.
In this video Paul Andersen explains how soils are formed and classified. Weathering of rock creates particles which are mixed with water, air, and organic material. Soils are classified according to particle size, chemical makeup, and horizon distribution. A brief discussion of soil loss through erosion, compaction, and salinization is included.
NRCS and film maker Robin “Buz” Kloot, PhD, have teamed up to develop a series of short videos focusing on the science of soil health. In the fall of 2013 Buz made a cross-country trek to interview some of the nation’s leading researchers and experts—in order to more fully understand the science of soil health. This is an introduction to the upcoming “The Science of Soil Health” video series. Learn more about soil health: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/n…
Want access to water, nutrients? Look deeper, expert tells farmers The scientist who wrote the book on soils wants farmers to look deeper. Literally. Dr. Ray Weil, author of the 15th edition of The Nature and Property of Soils, wants farmers to consider the soil’s nutrient and water-holding capacity below the top 8-10 inches of soil. Unfortunately, decades of heavy machine traffic on the soil’s surface, combined with tillage, have created nearly impenetrable layers of dense soil called “plow-pans,” which make it difficult (if not impossible) for most crops to reach what Weil describes as a tank of moisture and nutrients below the topsoil. To access those nutrients and moisture, farmers should consider using cover crops to tap into that reservoir with plow-pan-busting roots, he says. Go underground with Dr. Weil in this Science of Soil Health video to learn more (3:48). It’s science you can really dig.
In many parts of the country, there’s a reservoir of water and nutrients below our cropland’s “legacy plow-pan.” But that dense layer of soil virtually locks out most cash crops from reaching those resources. So how can farmers tap into that reservoir? Traditionally, plowing deeper was the answer. But plowing is only a temporary fix that requires bigger tractors, more fuel, more time and serves to exacerbate the plow-pan problem over time. Another solution is to tap into nature. Dr. Ray Weil, author of the 15th edition of The Nature and Property of Soils, explains how cover crops can help farmers naturally reach a treasure trove of production resources below the top few inches of soil in this second of a three part video series. It’s science you can really dig!
Formation of soil organic matter via biochemical and physical pathways of litter mass loss
Casey takes us on an exploration of soil pH with Hailin Zhang.
This video will show you a way to measure the amount of sand, silt and clay in your soil, and then help you figure out your soil type.
