They recycle dead plant and animal material and build up carbon in the soil, which enhances the soil’s ability to hold water and nutrients. They put some minerals such as phosphate in plant-accessible form, which plants often cannot absorb by themselves.

Not only that, but they produce countless organic compounds that plants need to ward off diseases and insects. These also give plants and fruit their resistance to insects and diseases, and taste, and are important to us for our own health and well-being. It needs an active symbiosis between plants and soil biology to produce the healthy plants we need for our own health, as shown by the Plant Health Pyramid.

Modern farming practices have led to a significant decline in soil biology worldwide. This is contributing to increasingly lower resistance in plants to diseases and insects, and too much diminished nutritional value to us. The latter is increasingly recognised as a contributing factor to many of our physical and mental illnesses.

Fortunately, over the past 30+ years, researchers and growers have demonstrated that it is possible to revitalise soil biology and regain its vital benefits.

Many of these methods are based on making compost, which can take several months to mature and requires some know-how and experience.

To then maintain and further strengthen the soil biology so that the soil’s health and structure keep improving requires adjusting the growing practices and looking after them.

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The Sun is the Driving Force

Green chlorophyll in leaves, algae and some bacteria use energy from the sun to split Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from the air into Oxygen (O2) and Carbon (C). The oxygen is released back to the air while the Carbon is combined with water and minerals from the soil to produce sugars, fats, oils and other compounds such as vitamins and proteins. These fats, oils and compounds differ between plant species.

Some of the sugar is used by the plant to grow, and some is transported to the roots and exuded into the soil and feeds parts of the soil biology. How much is exuded depends on the plant species and the plant’s stage of development. Under good conditions, half may be exuded during the life of the plant.

The Soil Builders

Some of the countless organisms of the soil biology use the sugars to combine soil particles such as clay and loam into complex soil structures. Others decompose dead plants and animals and recycle the minerals in them. Still others put minerals in forms that plants can absorb, and create many of the compounds that plants (and humans) need for protection against diseases and insects.

Fungi play a big role in building carbon structures. Some (mycorrhizal fungi) can find and transport minerals from a distance and exchange this for sugars in special root cells. These fungi function as extensions of the plant’s root-system.

More diversity in plants and their exudates leads to a more diverse soil biology and more resistance in the symbiotic system.

Restoring and Feeding the Soil Biology

Many modern farming practices damage or kill the soil biology and have weakened the plant-soil symbiosis. This has led to increasing cost and problems in agriculture, and is also a major contributing factor in many current human-health problems. Fortunately, new knowledge has shown nature’s ability to recover once we stop disrupting this symbiosis and start looking after it.

Our experiments with high-fungal teas have shown that changes in management can strengthen the plant-soil symbiosis quickly and profitably, and that it is not difficult to do. Feeding the soil biology with the widest range of minerals available, Sea minerals, is one effective way to do that.

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Avoid Chemicals that Kill

Avoid using any chemical that ends in ‘cide’ – as that suffix that means killing. Replace those for products with ‘Organically Certified’ signs on their package. That means that the contents comply with Australian 2022 standards for organic and biodynamic production. The need for protection will reduce as your soil biology gets healthier, and with complete plant nutrition, will almost completely disappear, see the Plant Health Pyramid for an explanation.

Feed Your Plants with Biology-friendly Products

Artificial fertilisers are highly concentrated simple salts that kill or interfere with soil biology. Use natural fertilisers such as kelp oil, fish oil, molasses, blood and bone, soft rock phosphate, rock dust, chook pellets, manure, compost and so on.

Feed Your Soil Biology with Sea Minerals

The tens of thousands different species in soil biology have their own needs for minerals, and Sea Minerals have the widest range of minerals of supplementary fertilisers. The case studies show improvements in yields and quality from applying it to crops and orchards, while applying pastures with Sea Minerals has produced substantial increases in Dry Matter and the benefits of using Sea Minerals in Pasture.

Keep the Soil Covered where Possible

Where possible, use cover crops, crop residue or stubble mulch. They protect the soil biology and when they decay, they feed it in the next season. In gardens, use the ‘Chop and Drop’ method: all parts of the plant that are not used by us get cut up and left on the bed where it grew to build up the soil biology.

Leave Plenty of Leaves when Grazing

In pastures, use short grazing/long spelling rotations, which leave a far larger surface area of leaves to catch the sun’s energy. This allows for faster re-growth and yields more Dry Matter per year than overgrazing.

Encourage Diversity

In pasture, short term rotational grazing also reduces the selective grazing of plants favoured by cattle. This helps to maintain diversity in plant species and thus a more diverse soil biology, leading to better overall nutritional quality of the pasture.

In crops and orchards, encourage diversity in the soil biology by crop rotation, multi-species cover crops, or using a diverse mix of different crops grown between rows when and where possible.

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