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Tag Archives: soil fertility
Waiting on amber: a note on regenerative agriculture and carbon farming
Waiting on amber: a note on regenerative agriculture and carbon farming This post offers some further notes on the issue of carbon farming and regenerative agriculture, arising out of the discussion in this recent post of mine, particularly via the comments of Don Stewart. Don set me some onerous homework – a lengthy presentationby Elizabeth […]
Agricultural Innovation with John-Paul Maxfield
Agricultural Innovation with John-Paul Maxfield John-Paul founded Waste Farmers with $9,000 and a belief that idealism and capitalism can coexist. Waste Farmers has evolved into an innovator respected by leaders in the global community for developing simple solutions to the complex problems of modern agriculture and food security. Mar 20, 2018 John-Paul Maxfield | Photo […]
Council Estate Permaculture: creating a resilient productive garden on a compacted lawn
Council Estate Permaculture: creating a resilient productive garden on a compacted lawn We live on a Council estate in Bolton, and decided around five years ago to do something with the front garden. All of the front gardens in the street are all lawns with compacted soil, each front lawn measures roughly 14x14ft. Incoming sunlight […]
No-Till Farming For Healthier Soil and Lifestyles
NO-TILL FARMING FOR HEALTHIER SOIL AND LIFESTYLES Masanobu Fukuoka, the late Japanese farmer, developed a unique farming system he called “Natural Farming.” Trying to replicate what he saw in Nature, Fukuoka´s no till system allowed the soil to continually grow in fertility. Through the use of mulch and cover crops, this system effectively allows for […]
Global Climate Change & Its Link to Soil Organisms
GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE & ITS LINK TO SOIL ORGANISMS When people think of the consequences of global warming, most jump to the melting ice caps and death of beloved polar bears. We know that as our Earth undergoes climate change, it’s adversely affecting the ecological balance in complex ways. For the first time, however, a […]
The Importance of Guilds and Nitrogen Fixers
THE IMPORTANCE OF GUILDS AND NITROGEN FIXERS How is it that the natural world provides excessive abundance while not relying on any external sources of nutrients? Nature produces her own fertility needs, firstly through accumulating organic matter on the soil surface which protects the soil, adds to the layer of humus, and stimulates the biological […]
What Are Effective Microorganisms?
WHAT ARE EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS? Effective Microorganisms (EM) are mixed cultures of beneficial naturally-occurring organisms that can be applied as inoculants to increase the microbial diversity of soil ecosystem. They consist mainly of the photosynthesizing bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, actinomycetes and fermenting fungi. These microorganisms are physiologically compatible with one another and can coexist in […]
Salting the Economy to Death
Salting the Economy to Death One popular delusion that won’t seem to go away is the notion that policy makers can stimulate robust economic growth by setting interest rates artificially low. The general theory is that cheap credit compels individuals and businesses to borrow more and consume more. Before you know it, the good times […]
Soil Science Spelled It Out A Whole Century Ago
Soil Science Spelled It Out A Whole Century Ago An organic farm marketer brought me a strange book to read and I can’t get it out of my mind. It was written by Cyril Hopkins, an agronomist at the University of Illinois in 1911. Already a century ago, science had committed the wisdom of the ages […]
Global Soil Week: A catalyst for change
Global Soil Week: A catalyst for change As many of you already know, 2015 has been named the International Year of Soils by the UN, so never has there been a better time to get soil into the conversation. The question of ‘how do we make soil sexy?’ is something that has been troubling soil […]
Abundance Thinking | The carbon pilgrim
Abundance Thinking | The carbon pilgrim. On a fine August day, I flew to New England in search of abundance. I was on the road to visit Dorn Cox, a young farmer who lives and works on his family’s 250-acre organic farm, called Tuckaway, near Lee, New Hampshire. Dorn calls himself a “carbon farmer,” meaning he […]
