Organic Farmer February / March 2020

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Continued from Page 19 When used as needed any one or a combination of these measures may help improve soil health, but this is still not getting back to the trunk of the tree which is needed as the foundation to best provide real soil health. That is because under normal conditions even following all of these as accurately as possible still will not completely provide the real basic needs that are required for excellent soil health. Think about this for a moment. Consider someone growing livestock and trying to maximize profits, with a stocking rate of one cow per acre. How many will place their stock in a confined area and expect the animals to fend for themselves on whatever feed is left there and thrive to the point of providing top quality while doing so? Ridiculous, right? But how many expect that very thing from the life in the soil which by weight is equivalent to feeding at least one average sized cow per acre? Based on the study of soil microbiology, September 17-18, 2020 Visalia, California New This Year : Extended DPR and CCA Seminars progressivecrop.com/conference AG MARKETING SOLUTIONS Pre-Register at: the nutrients we apply to grow a crop are not in the form the plant needs to produce the best quality and yields possible. What we apply must first be converted by microbes to the form that can best be supplied to the plants. In fact, microbiologists who study the productivity of the soil maintain that the more life there is in the soil, the more fertile that soil becomes. They measure soil productivity by measuring the amount of soil life that is present there. Plant roots move throughout the soil in search of moisture and nutrients, and yet farmers and growers are told to place the needed nutrients right up close to the plants. How does soil life and consequently the health of a soil thrive when so much of that soil life is “confined” to a very small area that provides at best very limited means of obtaining the nutrients they need that have been applied outside that confined area? Broadcasting needed soil nutrients helps feed the entire population of living organisms in the soil. To achieve Save The Date the utmost in terms of soil health benefits, the total area must have sufficient nutrition. Too little causes nutrient shortages and too much causes nutrient toxicities that results in other needed nutrients becoming unavailable for crop use. The second law of thermodynamics states that life only comes from life. In the study of soil biology this should be a consideration since the more life found to be present in the soil, from earthworms to microbes, the more healthy and productive that soil proves to be. Once that can be measured, then the question must be asked and considered as to what are the basic needs for all life? There are four basic needs for life – shelter, food, water and air. Which one of these on average can more likely be missing and life would go on the longest? Shelter would be the answer most of the time. Then between the three that are left, food would be the answer. Then water, with air being the most critical of all since we can only live a very short time without it. The most critical need for sustaining our life is also the most critical to the soil for life. Now we are getting to the trunk of the tree. But how many consider that providing an adequate amount of air to the soil as the most critical step to building excellent soil health? And even so, if the soil lacks aeration, is there anything that can be universally done to change or correct that lack? Most of those working in agriculture fail to recognize the significance of the need for just the right amount of air in the soil, let alone the keys that must be involved for correctly solving this problem. That is one of the big reasons it is not pointed out as the greatest problem affecting soil life and soil health. Then when soil aeration is lacking, how can farmers and growers know that truly is the case? What provides the proper amount of aeration to the soil to best promote soil life and soil health? That will be the topic for Part II next time. Neal Kinsey is owner and President of Kinsey Agricultural Services, a consulting firm that specializes in restoring and maintaining balanced soil fertility for attaining excellent yields while growing highly nutritious food and feed crops on the land. Please call 573 683-3880 or see www.kinseyag.com for more information. Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com 20 Organic Farmer February/March 2020
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Organic Farmer February / March 2020

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