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Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

nature.com

1–10 of 147 posts

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#2
they paywall right before they say anything of note I imagine this is climbing to the top because people like the idea of healthy soil. My very small organic no till garden is lots of manual labour. when one person grows food for 1 million I laugh to see a picture of someone standing in a field with a shovel ‘fixing soil’

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#3

they paywall right before they say anything of note I imagine this is climbing to the top because people like the idea of healthy soil. My very small organic no till garden is lots of manual labour. when one person grows food for 1 million I laugh to see a picture of someone standing in a field with a shovel ‘fixing soil’

https://archive.ph/S9obh

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#4
post #3

they paywall right before they say anything of note I imagine this is climbing to the top because people like the idea of healthy soil. My very small organic no till garden is lots of manual labour. when one person grows food for 1 million I laugh to see a picture of someone standing in a field with a shovel ‘fixing soil’

https://archive.ph/S9obh

haha awesome!

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#5

they paywall right before they say anything of note I imagine this is climbing to the top because people like the idea of healthy soil. My very small organic no till garden is lots of manual labour. when one person grows food for 1 million I laugh to see a picture of someone standing in a field with a shovel ‘fixing soil’

People don’t stand in a field fixing soil one shovel at a time. They’re fixing soil with larger machinery and taking samples to research the soils fixes.

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#6
There’s not that much in the article, it’s more of a setting the case.

Mention is made of “using AI” and other data sources, and that’s what I’d like to read far more about.

I wonder if the new future is writing MCPs so agents can access the data.

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#7
Here are the primary components that you would require - 1. Organic Matter: Compost and mulch enrich soil and improve structure. 2. Microorganisms: Bacteria, fungi, and mycorrhizae break down organic matter and enhance nutrient uptake. 3. Soil Fauna: Earthworms, insects, and arachnids aerate soil and mix organic matter. 4. Nutrients: Macronutrients (N, P, K) and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn, etc.) are essential for plant growth. 5. Soil Structure: Aggregates and porosity improve aeration and water retention. 6. Water Management: Proper irrigation and drainage ensure optimal soil moisture.

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#8

they paywall right before they say anything of note I imagine this is climbing to the top because people like the idea of healthy soil. My very small organic no till garden is lots of manual labour. when one person grows food for 1 million I laugh to see a picture of someone standing in a field with a shovel ‘fixing soil’

People don’t stand in a field fixing soil one shovel at a time. They’re fixing soil with larger machinery and taking samples to research the soils fixes.

Sure, but in this article, they talk about traditional methods of soil management. There’s nothing about stopping erosion or implementing no till on an industrial scale.

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#9
> project to assess soil erosion and degradation in vineyards using geographical mapping systems and artificial intelligence (AI). ... AI helps me to design and polish the software codes that I use

Is this describing use of something like GitHub copilot?

Re: Healthy soil is the hidden ingredient

#10
I'm a gardening and landscaping enjoyer, but I am constantly confused about the bordering magical thinking surrounding dirt, among other aspects of growing things.

If you look at hydroponics/aeroponics, plants basically need water, light, and fertilizer (N (nitrogen) P (phosphorous) K (potassium), and a few trace minerals). It can be the most synthetic process you've ever seen, and the plants will grow amazingly well.

The other elements regarding soil health, etc, would be much better framed in another way, rather than as directly necessary for plant health. The benefits of maintaining a nice living soil is that it makes the environment self-sustaining. You could just dump synthetic fertilizer on the plant, with some soil additives to help retain the right amount of drainage/retention, and it would do completely fine. But without constant optimal inputs, the plants would die.

If you cultivate a nice soil, such that the plants own/surrounding detritus can be broken down effectively, such that the nutrients in the natural processes can be broken down and made available to the plant, and the otherwise nonoptimal soil texture characteristics could be brought to some positive characteristics by those same processes, then you can theoretically arrive at a point that requires very few additional inputs.

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