Hosted by John and Andrew Cutting at Bastings Hall in Framsden, join farmland wildife advisers Katie Stocking and Maddie Lord, and special guest speaker Dr Kelly Jowett from Rothamsted research to look a little closer at some of the heroes of the soil. Join us for a talk and farm walk where we will focus on this valuable resource, particularly on the humble earthworm and mighty carabid beetles and how their roles can contribute to a healthier farming environment.
Why is soil important?
When we think of soil most of us immediately think of a medium to grow plants, when it is so much more. This precious resource provides habitats, nutrients, and biological interactions that countless organisms rely on. The soil holds the key to life and health. All terrestrial ecosystems are fed from the ground up, soil health and functionality have a massive impact on nature, biodiversity and of course, us humans. From grasslands in the UK to rainforests further afield, places that grow abundant flora need a functional substrate.
What are the threats to our soil?
For too long we have misunderstood the soil, we have taken far more than we have given back. We have treated it in a prescriptive manner applying what we think it needs in the form of artificial inputs. We have been addressing the shortfall of each crop but not the long-term problems of continued sustainability. Now we are seeing the consequences in the form of climate change and biodiversity loss and if we continue at this rate, it is predicted there are less than 60 harvests left and our wildlife is continuing to decline at an alarming rate.
Agriculture has contributed significantly to this deterioration of soil health; current conventional farming methods have stripped the soil of its biologic benefits resulting in this need for increasing inputs to yield a productive crop. Inversion tillage such as ploughing has destroyed soil structure and exposed organic matter resulting in precious carbon being lost. Rotations have become ‘monocultures’ of less diverse crops resulting in reduced nutrients and depleting the soil’s organic carbon pool and organic matter. Heavy machinery and intensive livestock grazing compact soil aggregates creating anerobic conditions where soil biology cannot thrive. Chemicals and fertiliser have a detrimental effect on many aspects of soil life, nature, and water quality and are seemly becoming more expensive and unsustainable. This is not to say that farmers have purposely been destroying our soil all these years, they have continually delivered to provide food and strive to do this the best they can with the information and tools available. With new farming policy being rolled out alongside challenges of adapting to impacts of climate change, we need to rethink farming methods that will benefit sustainable farming alongside thriving nature.
So where do we start? How can we mirror natural ecosystems and retain water and nutrients in agricultural soil and get that vital life back in? First, we need to understand how the soil works and this can be explained through the soil food web. Unlike the food chain which works in linear way, where one animal eats another in a prey predator progression, in the food web everything is up for grabs! This ingenious nutrient cycling system is made up of bacteria, nematodes, earthworms, protozoa, fungi, and arthropods all working together to create a healthy, diverse soil. Nothing goes to waste, and everything has multiple functions such as nutrient recycling, aeration of the soil and breakdown of organic matter. When you understand the soil food web you will see it is not a process that can be replicated by any mechanical processes and chemical input and will fully appreciate the importance of its role in resilient and sustainable farming systems. By adopting a long-term whole approach, improved soil health can increase fertility and productivity without expensive artificial inputs.
