A well planned and implemented soil fertility and crop nutrition program is the key foundation for a long term healthy, profitable farming operation.
Well balanced, highly mineralized soils and crop feeding programs that are biologically active will have the following benefits:
1. Provide consumers with quality, nutrient dense products – products that are nutrient dense will have great taste and excellent shelf/vase life commanding higher prices in the market. Most importantly, nutrient dense foods provide consumers with the best medicine against illness and degenerative diseases.
2. Greatly reduce the requirements for foliar pesticides– minerally deficient crops fail to convert nitrates to protein and amino acids resulting in a build up of nitrates and reducing sugars – this is exactly the conditions that insect pests and diseases love. Crops that are well mineralized will make this successful conversion of nitrates will not be attacked by insects and diseases.
3. Greatly reduce the requirements for soil applied pesticides – soils that have great soil microbial diversity will be able to control soil born disease pathogens from dominating the soil environment by direct competition for food sources. Controlling the C:N ratio in your soil is critical for managing soil pathogens – excess nitrogen in low available carbon soils is a recipe for soil pathogen attack.
4. Greatly reduce herbicide applications – weeds grow very well in poorly balanced soils. It is well documented that grass weeds are indicators of calcium deficiency and broadleaves of an inverted ratio of P:K. As soils are balanced and mineralized, weed pressure reduces.
5. Greatly reduce the requirement for high rates of fertilizers – many of our soils have large amounts of nutrients present in an unavailable form and many of our fertilizer nutrients are leached from our soils. This is due to soil imbalances leading to a poor environment for promoting biological activity. Correct soil biology, including nitrogen fixing bacteria, is the key to building and holding soluble nutrients in the root zone and for releasing locked up nutrients ….so when soil minerals are balanced and soil biology in built up, lower rates of crop feeding fertilizers are required.
6. Greatly increase water use efficiency (less water needed per tonne of crop) – well managed crop rotation and cover cropping will build humus levels. Humus holds four times its own weight in water – therefore for every 1% organic matter in your soils (12,000 kgs carbon) you can hold approximately 48,000 litres of water.
7. Greatly reduce erosion and environmental contamination – with increased humus and optimum calcium to magnesium balance in your soils, the healthy soil structure will be able to resist soil and nutrient loss (pollution) through erosion. Our approach follows Dr. Albrecht who believed in “feeding the soil, and letting the soil feed the plant”…this approach mean excess fertilizers are never applied, so run off of nitrates and phosphates is minimized.
8. Reduce global warming – by capturing and storing carbon in soils through improved crop residue management as a result of a healthy microbial soil population which enables rapid residue digestion and carbon sequestration. As indicated above, for every 1% organic matter built up in your soils, you are storing an extra 12 tonnes of carbon. Carbon trading may well be a possibility for East Africa farmers in the future.
The above benefits can be achieved through a biological farming systems approach. “Biological farming” is an integration of correct nutrition and soil biology management – it is a system. These benefits cannot be achieved immediately and there are no shortcuts, but will normally start showing positive results within 2 – 3 years, depending on the level of intensity. No two farms or soils are the same, so the system must be adapted to the suit each situation.
1. Soil test for mineral balance - using specialized laboratory analysis systems, the first and most critical step is to identify shortages and excesses in your soils
2. Re-mineralize your soil with the correct products – from the lab results we calculate what amounts of the correct products are needed to rebalance you soils using the Albrecht system. Calcium and phosphorus are critical component of the balancing process. These applications rates can be spread over several years, according to your budget.
3. Build your soil humus and diversify your soil biology – To build a soil with high levels humus and diverse biology use cover crops and green manure crops, nitrogen fixing rotation crops, composts, microbial inoculants and compost teas. Like all organisms, soil microbes are sensitive to environmental conditions. In order to build and keep your soil microbes happy you need to focus on managing soil oxygen levels, soil moisture, food availability (nutrition) and general comfort (soil structure etc ) – this is key in the biological farming approach. Putting microbial inoculants into a poorly balanced soil will not show results, as the environment will not allow them to survive.
4. Feed / activate your soil biology - activating your soil biology is what turns your soil “on”. A well balanced soil with a fully operating microbial population is the ultimate target. Microbes are hugely dependent on calcium therefore optimum soil calcium levels are critical component of this system. Microbes require carbon as their primary food source so building humus (organic carbon) through good stubble and residue management is critical. Soluble carbon sources can also be applied to soils as an immediate source of food for the microbes.
5. Minimize soil biology destruction – use chemicals only when absolutely necessary and when using them add in carbon sources to facilitate rapid breakdown and minimum residual effect on microbe populations. Herbicides are a big soil bacteria killer, especially harmful to free living nitrogen fixing bacteria. Fertilizer selection is also very important for preserving soil microbes and certain “toxic” fertilizers must be avoided in biological farming systems. Choose soil friendly fertilizers.
4. Monitor your crop feeding program using “in-crop” soil testing and use lower rates of high energy fertilizers– during various stages of cropping, we use the Reams soil extraction system that indicates immediately available plant nutrients. This information, in conjunction with leaf analysis tells us how well the soil biology and crop feeding program is working and we can make the necessary adjustments to maximize energy release in the soil.
5. Select the Correct Foliar Feeding Program – an optional part of the biological farming process is the use of special foliar feeds for boosting leaf production of sugars and supplying nutrients directly. In a well mineralized crop, up to 30% of sugars produced through photosynthesis are moved to the roots and feed the root surface dwelling microbes, boosting soil nutrient supply to the crop (especially important for free living nitrogen fixing bacteria, which can supply all your nitrogen needs). This part of the system only works well in soils that are already balanced and if the crop is adequate in boron – boron allows for sugar translocation to feed these root dwelling microbes.
Currently, the worlds conventional system farmers rely heavily on chemical inputs of fertilizers and pesticides for high yielding crops. As the prices of these inputs continue to rise with increasing oil prices, many are asking how they will continue to farm profitably in the future.
Correct adoption of the biological farming systems approach, based on re-mineralizing and improving the biology of soils will reduce farmers reliance on these inputs and ultimately result in “HEALTHY, PROFITABLE FARMING” well into the future. This is our vision for East African farming. Why wait?
For more information on sustainable farming systems, have a look at our selection of books in our bookstore.
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