Agriculture
Soil Health is Crop Health
Food of life is defined by nutrient density, consisting of micronutrients and minerals for the microbiome of our gut, skin, and nervous system that dictates how we live. The only way to create nutrient density is by fostering a rich and diverse ecosystem of microbiology in the soil within which our food grows. A balanced mix of fungi and bacteria maintain an ongoing exchange with plants, in which they break down minerals in the soil, making them available to the growing roots, in exchange for the plants providing food for the soil dwellers in the form of liquid carbon: humus.
In traditional agriculture, especially in arid climates, we are accustomed to adding minerals in chemical form directly into the soil for the uptake by plants. But not only do these artificial inputs lack crucial micronutrients and helpful bacteria that human beings need in order to thrive and stay healthy, but they deplete the soil’s natural ecosystem, create dependence on external inputs, and kill a lot of nutrient producing life existing there. The only truly organic source of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) is a byproduct of microbial breakdown of organic matter and minerals in the ground, and so, the only truly effective way to grow organic crops is by facilitating a thriving ecosystem of biodiversity under the surface.
A healthy soil microbiome is not something that can be chemically engineered or simply added to soil on command, but rather it is a result of biodiversity, water retention, and dynamic ecosystem conditions.
In building soil life and biocomplexity under the ground, not only do we ensure that plants will be higher in nutrient density and healthier for human consumption, but we also reduce the presence of weeds, make crops less appealing for pests by raising sugar content, and increase yield why decreasing need for inputs over time.
“If all farmland was a net sink rather than a net source for CO2, atmospheric CO2 levels would fall at the same time as farm productivity and watershed function improved. This would solve the vast majority of our food production, environmental and human health ‘problems’.”
Christine Jones, PhD Founder, Amazing Carbon
Regenerative Methodology
Some of the methods we use to facilitate living systems, biodiversity, regenerative food production, and increased carbon and microbiology in soil include cover cropping and crop rotation, introduction of fermentations and extracts, integration of forest systems - microforests and agroforestry - into vegetable cultivation, use of local biomass as soil inputs, and emphasis on perennial vegetation alongside annual crops.
Crop rotation
The rotation of categories and species of crops allows for the continual use of land in producing food, by avoiding soil depletion and replenishing the soil with nitrogen, carbon, and biology. It also supports a healthy system that is more resilient to disease and pests, and allows for the rotational integration of nitrogen fixing plants that increase nutrient availability in soil.
Local biomass
We emphasize the use and cultivation of local biomass for purposes of mulch, organic inputs for soil structure, fodder, and compost, promoting systems that are as close as possible to closed loop within the regional climatic context. In arid regions, this is especially important, as we benefit from using local vegetation in creating soil inputs because it promotes growth of a robust ecosystem of local microbes.
Biological inputs
Fermentations and extracts made from materials on site and in surrounding areas can considerably reduce expenditure on soil inputs, and can assist in controlling pests, diseases and fungi while simultaneously increasing the biological biocomplexity.
Perennial
cropping
Perennial crops are crucial for regenerative practice as they allow for less intervention and tillage of the soil and promote more robust soil structure, they bring nutrients from deeper layers in the ground as well as a diversity helpful fungi and other soil dwellers, they reduce soil erosion and allow for living systems to stay rooted and mature over time.
Agro
Forestry
The integration of forest systems alongside vegetable cultivation allows for increased biodiversity, inter-roots communication and the sharing of nutrient stores among plants, and the mimicking of wilderness conditions in which plants have developed to thrive. These systems also invite predators and creatures that keep the living systems balanced, and reduce monoculture suceptibility to diseases and pests.
Overlap of Agriculture and ReWilding
The practice of cultivating food was traditionally entangled with our care for land, and stewardship over biodiversity that allowed for human beings to enjoy consistent abundance. Today, in order to return to the resilience that our ecosystems enjoyed before the depletion of soil and resources, it is crucial to integrate restorative practices into agriculture.
This comes in the form of intercropping annual vegetables with shrubs and trees, as mentioned above, but it can also mean the integration of wild foods into agricultural systems, and the use of less-domesticated species of vegetables and fruits in our fields and kitchens.