For the last couple of years my interest has picked up on "soil health". I used to think that stopping the destructive practice of tilling the soil was sufficient. ---After a few years it became obvious that something more was needed, and Dr. Dwayne Beck came into our realm of education with his research on crop diversity, rotations, rooting depths, moisture use. That was a big leap forward for us, but something was still missing. ---Than, in the last few years with the news about the Chesapeake Bay problems, cover crops are front and center in the news. USDA's "Life in the Soil series" featuring Ray Archuleta is well done and has a compelling message. Many speakers are available, selling their stories of success based on use of cover crops to stop erosion and holding nutrients. Organic farming uses many of the same principals and appears to be getting increasing press coverage and retailer interest. ---There is an increasing negative attitude toward agribusiness' chemical and fertility inputs in the non farm community. Strangely, I'm fining myself moving toward that frame of mind. There was a time that I accepted GE crops as logical progress toward higher yield, healthier plants using less toxic chemicals, and should not be questioned, --that is not my feeling today. My thinking today is that every GE organism needs to be tested for negative environmental impact before being released. A benign appearance may be deceiving. ---The most recent interest I have developed on the hunt for a better way of farming is to learn more about soils and their complexity. The spring of 2015 we spent a lot of money on Biological tests for one piece of ground, and spent the remainder of the year trying to figure out what they meant. Last spring I listened to a presentation by Dr. Elaine Ingham. It was mind boggling, --unbelievable! My limited education on soils is now more than 50 years old, but her presentation sounded reasonable and logical. Since then I have listened to a lot of her past presentations, and others on soil health, and her thesis is something that needs to be tried. If successful, farming will become a very profitable business through greatly reduced inputs. There are a lot of Guru's out there selling elixir's that promise higher yields and better food quality. Some of them advertise as organics, and leave the impression that they are adding soil organisms. So far, what I have found is that if most of the elixir was derived from natural grown products it is advertised as organic, and they are all fertilizers ammendments of one kind or another, --no live soil organisms are included. At first, Dr. Ingham's program appears daunting; however, I think that it is not. One can work her "magic" on plots as small as a garden for starters and work up to larger acreage.
After viewing many different authored videos, I am including three presenters that I think have something to say that can be backed up with research. They also, in their own way, support the other two presenters. Each of these presentations are approximately 30 minutes. These sites give access to other videos by these authors on the subject of soils and their health.
----- ( Soil Health Principles ) Jill Clapperton: She was a soil scientist in Canada for many years, and now doing research in Washington State. She is the founder of "Rhizoterra". I first became acquainted with her back in the 80's when Guy Swanson would bring her down to his "Yielder Conferences". She was an early spokesman on soil health.
----- ( Soil Health Principles ) Ray Archuleta: He is a soil health specialist and agronomist with USDA. He is the principle narrator for USDA's excellent video series on "Secrets of the Soil".
----- ( The Soil Foodweb ) Elaine Ingham: She is a soil biologist, microbiologist, and founder of "Soil Foodweb". She is the author of "USDA's Soil Biology Primer". She currently is the hot commodity at conferences on soil health. She upsets apple carts and draws controversy. I think she knows her stuff and articulates it very well. The following link is an interesting article on the principal controversy she is part of. When I followed this through the various links provided, it appears to me, she was subjected to a real hack job. It also appears she may have overstated some conclusions in verbal presentations. < GM watch.org >
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