It’s no secret that conventionally-cultivated soils tend to become, by themselves, poor. They’re often managed under exploitative techniques that involve intensive tillage, scarce or absent ground cover, and intensive application of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, all of which take a toll on microbial diversity, evenness, and richness. The impact that these techniques have on long-term soil fertility is no joke: they’re the reason why the FAO alerted, in 2015, that by 2050 we could have only one-quarter of the cultivable land that we had in 1960. It’s clear that we have to transition from this model to one that is sustainable, both in an environmental and an economic sense (come to think of it, what’s the sustainability of a business that destroys its own productive basis, in the end?). One of the aspects where the impoverishment of conventionally-managed soils appears more prominently is in their lack of microbial diversity: in contrast, organically-managed soils tend not only to exhibit higher levels of general biodiversity but also a staggering 34% to 84% larger microbial biomass in comparison with inorganic soils. This is according to a meta-study that analyzed the results of 56 peer-reviewed papers on the subject, and that also highlights that most of the key benefits of a healthy microbiota (which plays “…an important role for various soil-based ecosystem services such as nutrient cycling, erosion control, and pest and disease regulation”, as the study notes) are obtained through time. It’s the prolonged management of soil under organic and conservation practices that makes it build a rich community of beneficial microbes. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, living in nodules in the roots of a plant. These bacteria are some of the prime biofertilizers that must be brought into formerly-conventionally-managed soils. But if there’s something that we don’t have right now is another century to patch up the errors of the last. If the world is going to transition to sustainable agriculture, something that is going to be key is finding ways of building the microbial blends community of recently converted soils; finding ways of not only placing the microbial inoculators there but also of helping them get established and thrive. Especially since scientists are talking more about the microbiome and less about specific microbes, these days. The area remains, however, comparatively understudied. A search in Google Scholar for publications that mention ‘soil inoculants’ during this year reveals around 112 results: not enough if compared with a search for ‘cryptocurrencies’, that reveals over 8,000 results, or a search for ‘late night TV’, which gives half-a-hundred more publications on the subject for the same timeframe. Enough has been published on it for new organic farmers to read already, but for such an important subject, is less investigated than the patterns of late-night television is not enough. It’s time we took a moment to appreciate the importance of soil fertilizers for building an organic future — and asked ourselves if we’ve been paying them attention enough.

Ever wondered why every organic gardener tells you that you should plant leguminous plants in association with others? Or that you should include them in your crop-rotation scheme? Or that they’re just plain cool? Well, wonder no more. Here we’ll explore the key aspect that makes legumes desirable for the gardener, beyond their individual benefits as food or ornamentation. We’re talking about the nitrogen-fixating capability of these plants, which results in a capability for improving the soil fertility by growing in it and, consequently, in a lot of fields around the world that look like this: Look at all that white clover! The first and most important thing to understand about all of this is that legumes themselves do not actually fixate nitrogen into the soil. What they do is offer a certain group of bacteria a space to live within their roots, thus creating a symbiotic relationship with them. While the plants are alive, thus, they get the advantage of having something akin to a nitrogen-production system (really a nitrogen-fixation system) in their roots, which allows them to outgrow the competition, and after they die all of this nitrogen that they had accumulated goes back into the soil in ways that other plants can use. The nitrogen that these bacteria (called diazotroph bacteria) take and make available for other plants is mostly nitrogen that is present in the form of gas in the atmosphere. Plants can’t use nitrogen directly like this, so they take advantage of the compounds that the bacteria make as a result of their own feedings off this gaseous nitrogen, like ammonia and nitrate. What legumes simply do is make nodules in their roots, which look from the outside like weird growth but are actually similar to beehives for these nitrogen-fixing bacteria. And that’s mostly how legumes are associated with them, and in turn, serve to fix nitrogen into the soil after they die, and why when you uproot your bean plants their roots look like this: Those weird-looking warts are the nodules! We say ‘mostly, of course, because there’s really quite a bit more of science going into this. If you are interested in reading about the process in-depth, take a look at this interesting article here, by a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Marine Microbiology of Bremen, in Germany. Happy growing!

The advantages of using cover crops to protect the soil and produce green manure are known to be many: nutrient scavenging in poor soils, soil protection from erosion, nitrogen fixation (can’t get enough legumes in a garden, can’t you?), generation of organic matter to incorporate it into the soil and weed control, among several others. But could these crops also be more like mainstream crops, a source of food? Theoretically, all cover crops should be cut down and used (either by incorporating them into the soil, being left to rot in place, or composted elsewhere) before they get to make seeds or fruits, but after they begin to flower. Still, this doesn’t mean that they can’t feed you as well, or that you can’t get at least a bite out of them in the process: here’s a list of five excellent cover crops that could make their way to your table as well. 1- Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). A heat-loving, drought-resistant and poor-soil-adapted plant, the humble cowpea is a powerhouse of organic matter and food production. The tender leaves are edible and have a sweet, mild taste, and you can also eat the pods and the beans of any plant that you don’t cut young. Even if you go ahead and decide to harvest cowpeas after they have grown to full maturity (bear in mind that they won’t decompose as quickly and as such, they won’t release as many nutrients for the next season, though) the organic matter produced by fully-grown cowpeas will be enough to significantly improve your soil quality by using soil fertilizers. 2- Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan). Pigeon peas are actually perennial species (or at least have the potential to be perennial) in warmer, tropical climates around the world. In temperate regions, however, they can be grown as annuals. This is a plant able to grow with very little water, holding its ground even with just 650 mm of rainfall per year. In immature specimens, the leaves are the edible part, although they may have too much of a strong taste for some people. 3- Austrian winter peas (Pisum sativum var. arvense). A variety of peas, the Austrian winter peas (also called ‘field peas’) produce excellent leaves to be eaten as greens, either raw or stir-fried or prepared according to the recipe of choice. In a large enough field, the Austrian winter peas could reasonably satisfy the grower’s demands for fresh leafy greens while leaving more than enough to be returned to the soil as bio-manure (a good rule of thumb is to eat as much as 1/3 of the leaves of any cover crop, but not more). Much like cowpeas, these can also be grown to full maturity for their seeds, and their remains will still give the soil a good boost. 4- Barley (Hordeum vulgare). Unlike the three former crops, barley is not a legume, but it is pretty darn close in terms of usefulness. Not only it is one of the crops that produce more organic matter in poor soils, but, like wheat, its young leaves can also be eaten or even desiccated and ground into a nutritious powder. They are also full of antioxidants, as a team of Japanese researchers found in 2012. 5- Oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus var. oleifer). Radishes are another great cover crop that will provide leafy greens to the gardener, and maybe one thick root or two to pickle or to eat raw. Oilseed radish, in particular, produces roots that drill the soil and favor its decompaction and aeration while producing thick heads of greens that can be eaten like mustards. It’s better to cook them since many people find their taste too strong to eat them fresh. Most of the radishes can then be cut as close to the soil as possible, or dug up and composted over it.

Even though it sounds like everything but a problem for many farmers and gardeners who have to face the increasing nutrient depletion of a lot of the world’s soils, over-fertilization is a serious threat to sustainable agricultural practices and the environment everywhere. Not only by causing nutrient runoff into nearby rivers and lakes (with its well-known destabilizing and eventually deadly effects in the life of these ecosystems), but also by increasing the acidity of the soil and reducing the capacity of plants to hold water, burning leaves and roots, and generating high amounts of nitrous oxide (N2O), overfertilization is a serious concern that isn’t being addressed as much as it should. In 2019, a study noted that plants use only up to 50% of all the nitrogen and phosphorus solubilising that is provided to them by fertilizers unless they are grown and fertilized using specific conservation techniques, and their growth is paired with that of microorganisms such as mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria. Yes, somebody probably paid for the nutrients that are feeding all those algae in the lake! The major characteristic driving most cases of overfertilization is the unnaturally high solubility of nutrients in inorganic fertilizers. Because they must be presented in a way that makes them readily available to plants (as producers cannot count on soil microorganisms to transform them into available nutrients gradually), nutrients in inorganic fertilizers tend to be easily carried away with water from irrigation or rain, as well as presented in the form of soluble salts, responsible for causing hydric stress to plants. Organic fertilizers, in contrast, work slowly and slowly release their nutrients through the microbial action of the myriad organisms that thrive in healthy soil. They release these nutrients in such a way that the plants can gradually take them as they need them, thus reducing the waste of nutrients and ultimately leading to larger yields, according to studies made for zucchini, chives, and carrots. Though they are still not perfect and moderation is necessary, one thing is certain: the balance clearly shifts in favor of organic fertilizers when overfertilization is a risk at bay.

The presence of mycorrhizal fungi is a part as vital to sustainable agricultural production as our own intestinal flora is to our nutrition. Mycorrhizal fungi, alongside beneficial bacteria, form the basis of the soil ecosystem and are the first organisms that really break down the nutrients present there into a form that is truly available for plants to use them. But recent research shows that they can also do more: they could be our first line of defense against climate change, acting from within the plants themselves. That is the opinion of a study from last year, the work of an international team of scientists from the universities of Ohio and Vermont in the United States, as well as from Copenhagen, Denmark. After reviewing the existing literature on the subject, the words of these scientists are pretty clear: “Mycorrhizal fungi can increase plant tolerance to abiotic stresses associated with climate changes, which should decrease plant extinction risk and provide time for plant dispersal and adaptation” (p. 7). This is easier to understand if we consider the extent of the addition that a mycorrhizal network (the white lines) means to the roots of a plant (in yellow): In order to establish this, however, the researchers identify three main ways in which climate change affects plant mycorrhiza: through an increase in temperature, through changes in the available rainfall, and through an increment in the atmospheric levels of CO2. And in those three categories, with slight variations depending on the type of mycorrhizal fungi (arbuscular, ectomycorrhizal, and ericoid) the presence of those fungi helped in one way or another to mitigate the impact of climate change, whether it be by increasing resistance to temperature changes or to rainfall availability. As such, “…relative to plants and their roots, mycorrhizal fungi tend to have a wider temperature tolerance, which may reflect their ability to produce protective compounds” and “…mycorrhizal fungi can help plants tolerate rainfall variability.” (p. 7). You can check out the study at its source to see why they concluded this. Although certainly more research can serve to confirm and estimate the extent of the benefits of mycorrhizal associations, one thing is certain: soil biodiversity goes matters all the way to the smallest microorganisms. If we’re going to be fighting climate change, we must be fighting smartly — through ecology.

Last March, the European Commission (the organism in charge of designing the implementation of the EU’s policies) presented a 22-page Action Plan for the attainment of one of the most formidable goals that the Union has set to itself: transforming a quarter of its agricultural land to organic farming methods. It seeks to do so along three main lines: boosting consumption (while maintaining consumer trust on the organic label), increasing production, and taking steps to ensure the sustainability of the sector’s growth, so that the 25% mark is reached once and for good. Even though the EU is not going against the grain on this, with the current trend of growth already predicting a 15% of the total agricultural land being organic by 2030, the aim of the European Commission is to boost this existing market trend with official support. The online version of the Action Plan offers a number of key measures, including: On the demand side, the beginning of massive campaigns in favor of organic consumption and the creation of a European database of organic-certified producers, which aims to ensure consumer trust in the EU organic logo. On the supply side, an increase in the EU resources devoted to supporting organic farming in technical and financial ways, a reduction of the red tape around obtaining organic certifications for producers, boosting local structures for production and consumption within an area (instead or organic products having to travel widely throughout the EU to be sold) and, particularly, helping farmers who are beginning to get into organic agriculture or are interested in transitioning become a part of the value chain. On the sustainability issue, the Plan outlines a general ecologically sustainable approach as the basis of the sustainability of organic farming itself, in which organic farming is made economically sustainable due to it being ecologically sustainable, as the costs of ecological unsustainability begin to catch up with regular methods of farming. Increasing efficiency and yields in organic production, as well as animal welfare, are other parts of the sustainability section of the Action Plan. Trust in the European Certified Organic label might be the spearhead of the industry's growth – as well as one of its main liabilities. A lot of this work will be devoted towards equalizing the status of organic farming across EU members, some of which have an organic land use as low as 0.5% of the total, and some of which have well over 25% of their total land devoted to organic agriculture. The question remaining would be, will it work? Is the EU doing enough to truly be on its way to reaching its organic goals by 2030? According to one of the main advisors for the European Commission, Diego Canga Fano, it might be, if it manages to equalize organic production throughout the EU and ensure that the European organic logo remains a trusted symbol for consumers.

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