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I found this presentation[0] by a farmer talking about growing soil to be super interesting. He touches on promoting beneficial fungi as one part of it. He clai

by goda90 6y ago

I found this presentation[0] by a farmer talking about growing soil to be super interesting. He touches on promoting beneficial fungi as one part of it. He claims that with all the relatively easy techniques he, and other like minded farmers do, that they get high calories per acre than some conventional farmers. [0]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9yPjoh9YJMk https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9yPjoh9YJMk

mtalantikite 6y ago
I recently read “The One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka [1] and a lot of the technique seems to be around making sure the soil is cultivated for letting mycelium and bacteria do their thing. Mycorrhizal fungi seems to play a huge role in soil carbon storage, which is disrupted in modern agricultural practices [2]. [1]https://www.nyrb.com/products/the-one-straw-revolution?variant=1094932353 https://www.nyrb.com/products/the-one-straw-revolution?varia... [2]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_fungi_and_soil_carbon_storage https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_fungi_and_soil_c...
- dylanz 6y ago
  Great book! I’ll always remember his lazy cultivation technique of creating “seed balls” consisting of various seeds and mud, and just tossing them down a hillside. The one thing I appreciate most about Permaculture and techniques like those that Fukuoka deployed, are how the focus is on how to maximize yield and minimize effort.
bopbeepboop 6y ago
I’d second this as being interesting, and add some anecdata: There’s a lot of similar discussion in the marijuana community. When I used to grow (legal, medicinal) marijuana, we had a reading group about soil ecology where we discussed how fungi and roots interacted, the fungi-bacteria-animal systems, etc. A lot of crop management can be done via cultivating “healthy” soil ecosystems. We were able to cut down on nutrient supplements, eliminate things like growth treatments, and get rid of some infestations by adopting a perspective we were raising soil full of healthy fungi, bacteria, and animals. We also started moving spiders into the plants if we found them elsewhere in the garden. I think “symbiotic ecology” is a topic we’re just scratching the surface of.
- kiba 6y ago
  Don't we still need to move phosphorous and other elements back into these soil? We don't have a closed loop for recycling of these elements, and instead losing them to the ocean or some place very difficult to recover.
  - markdown 6y ago
    Yes, these methods are wonderful for the home gardener, but you can't feed the world this way. You absolutely need to regularly amend the soil if you're growing crops intensively for sale. Farming is mining in slow motion. Eventually you have to put those elements back into the system, and you can't get all of them in sufficient quantity from compost.
    - dsrees 6y ago
      I disagree. The farmer mentioned above is Gabe Brown and he operates over 5000 acres and operates a closed loop. He grazes the fields which he plants crops in which he feeds to grain based animals such as pigs and chickens. Hardly a home gardner.
      - kiba 6y ago
        Closed loop means complete recycling. Crops that go to feed humans are then lost as the phosphorous and other elements are dispersed elsewhere instead of being returned to the soil.
      - markdown 6y ago
        And how many people does he feed with his 5000 acres? Can he provide enough for 100% of the daily caloric needs of 5000 people? 10,000? 100,000? Crops and livestock require potassium. He harvests the crops and removes them (and the potassium in them) from his farm. Where does he get potassium after it's all been mined out of his soil?
        teyc 6y ago
hanniabu 6y ago
Waiting on the article about Monsanto (ahem, I mean Bayer) patenting soil fungi
dqv 6y ago
Dr. Elaine Ingham talks about soil health too. I've been following her for years. I really love her work.
- czierleyn 6y ago
  I read about Elaine Ingham for the first time a couple of months ago and it was a revelation to me. Her website https://www.soilfoodweb.com/ https://www.soilfoodweb.com/ is very informative too. I wish these ideas were adopted much more broadly. It sounds like a solution to many of our problems. No fertilizer, no pesticides, no pollution, reclaimed biodiversity. What are we waiting for?
  - dw-im-here 6y ago
    Maybe adoption is slow because the website is a clusterfuck
    - dqv 6y ago
      I think the website is rather recent. She does a much better job explaining soil health in an instructive setting.

by goda90 6y ago

mtalantikite 6y ago

I recently read “The One Straw Revolution” by Masanobu Fukuoka [1] and a lot of the technique seems to be around making sure the soil is cultivated for letting mycelium and bacteria do their thing. Mycorrhizal fungi seems to play a huge role in soil carbon storage, which is disrupted in modern agricultural practices [2]. [1]https://www.nyrb.com/products/the-one-straw-revolution?variant=1094932353 https://www.nyrb.com/products/the-one-straw-revolution?varia... [2]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_fungi_and_soil_carbon_storage https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycorrhizal_fungi_and_soil_c...

dylanz 6y ago
Great book! I’ll always remember his lazy cultivation technique of creating “seed balls” consisting of various seeds and mud, and just tossing them down a hillside. The one thing I appreciate most about Permaculture and techniques like those that Fukuoka deployed, are how the focus is on how to maximize yield and minimize effort.

bopbeepboop 6y ago

I’d second this as being interesting, and add some anecdata: There’s a lot of similar discussion in the marijuana community. When I used to grow (legal, medicinal) marijuana, we had a reading group about soil ecology where we discussed how fungi and roots interacted, the fungi-bacteria-animal systems, etc. A lot of crop management can be done via cultivating “healthy” soil ecosystems. We were able to cut down on nutrient supplements, eliminate things like growth treatments, and get rid of some infestations by adopting a perspective we were raising soil full of healthy fungi, bacteria, and animals. We also started moving spiders into the plants if we found them elsewhere in the garden. I think “symbiotic ecology” is a topic we’re just scratching the surface of.

kiba 6y ago
Don't we still need to move phosphorous and other elements back into these soil? We don't have a closed loop for recycling of these elements, and instead losing them to the ocean or some place very difficult to recover.
- markdown 6y ago
  Yes, these methods are wonderful for the home gardener, but you can't feed the world this way. You absolutely need to regularly amend the soil if you're growing crops intensively for sale. Farming is mining in slow motion. Eventually you have to put those elements back into the system, and you can't get all of them in sufficient quantity from compost.
  - dsrees 6y ago
    I disagree. The farmer mentioned above is Gabe Brown and he operates over 5000 acres and operates a closed loop. He grazes the fields which he plants crops in which he feeds to grain based animals such as pigs and chickens. Hardly a home gardner.
    - kiba 6y ago
      Closed loop means complete recycling. Crops that go to feed humans are then lost as the phosphorous and other elements are dispersed elsewhere instead of being returned to the soil.
    - markdown 6y ago
      And how many people does he feed with his 5000 acres? Can he provide enough for 100% of the daily caloric needs of 5000 people? 10,000? 100,000? Crops and livestock require potassium. He harvests the crops and removes them (and the potassium in them) from his farm. Where does he get potassium after it's all been mined out of his soil?
      - teyc 6y ago

hanniabu 6y ago

Waiting on the article about Monsanto (ahem, I mean Bayer) patenting soil fungi

dqv 6y ago

Dr. Elaine Ingham talks about soil health too. I've been following her for years. I really love her work.

czierleyn 6y ago
I read about Elaine Ingham for the first time a couple of months ago and it was a revelation to me. Her website https://www.soilfoodweb.com/ https://www.soilfoodweb.com/ is very informative too. I wish these ideas were adopted much more broadly. It sounds like a solution to many of our problems. No fertilizer, no pesticides, no pollution, reclaimed biodiversity. What are we waiting for?
- dw-im-here 6y ago
  Maybe adoption is slow because the website is a clusterfuck
  - dqv 6y ago
    I think the website is rather recent. She does a much better job explaining soil health in an instructive setting.