Soil Science

From Gut-Brain Secrets.

Before Dr. Elaine Ingham came along, most scientists, growers and agriculture companies thought of raising plants as basically a “minerals applied, minerals uptaken” sort of thing. Whatever is in the soil gets taken up by the plant to feed itself, and ultimately goes to the animal that eats that plant. Minerals in the earth basically get consumed and depleted over the course of several growing seasons and that’s it. You don’t get any more until: (a) the next volcanic eruption, (b) a biblical-scale flood deposits minerals in the area, or (c) you put “it” in the ground yourself.

Thus, most members of the grower community thought of farming as a chemical equation that Big Ag companies could solve with technology and chemical crop amendments. But that’s not how agriculture works in Nature (is supposed to work) – from a nutritional standpoint, sustainability standpoint and, often, yield standpoint. In the ways that really matter to the health of people and the planet, modern farming works very much in opposition to Nature. Like drugs and modern medicine, modern farming basically forces Nature to do things against its will, or at least out of its comfort zone.

Soil is the foundation of life and health for the entire food chain

Over the past several decades, soil science has focused primarily on the chemical and physical properties of soil – particularly mineral levels that plants need to grow big and fast. But science is rapidly waking up to the fact that the biology in the soil – the life in the soil – has a bigger influence on its productivity than its mineral and structural composition. To put it more potently, soil must contain life.

Without a complex hierarchy of life forms living in and around it, soil isn’t soil; it’s just dirt. And dirt don’t grow much (at least not without a lot of help). For us landlubbers, soil is where the food chain starts (and begins again). Soil feeds the plants. Plants feed the animals. Animals feed people. And everything returns to the earth when it dies to be recycled. So, naturally, if you want healthy bodies and healthy minds, you need to start with what’s happening in the soil.

Organisms in soil are a tiny ecosystem, not unlike that of the gut

In the mid-1980s, soil microbiologist Dr. Elaine Ingham, and her husband Dr. Russ Ingham, started doing groundbreaking research into what lives in the soil that ultimately feeds the entire food chain. What they discovered shocked farmers, educators and agricultural scientists alike, because even industry veterans had no idea how destructive modern farming practices were until they learned how microorganisms in the soil govern plant health.

They didn’t realize that microorganisms in soil enhance nutritional content for plants and the food chain, let alone the extent to which they make it happen. No one knew precisely how tiny creatures in the soil cooperate with plants to form a complex and interdependent community where each type of organism has a job to do, and is there for a reason.

A few inquiring minds knew something about how soil structure helps its inhabitants get their basic needs met, prevents erosion, and protects the environment from contamination. People had their suspicions. But no one could really say specifically why life in the soil means so much to so many. It’s a remarkable story that’s vital to the health of every organism on earth, as well as the planet itself, because the wellness of most life on earth comes from the soil. Like the gut, small but inconceivably intelligent microbiota make magic happen in the soil for every living being’s benefit.

Or the opposite is true: toxicity, weakness, poor nutrient profile, and abnormal genetic expression emanate from a corrupted growing medium that many people wrongly call “soil.” And it happens when a thriving community of microlife in the soil is lacking. What’s more, much of the information that follows is virtually unknown outside of the “bio-friendly farming” community. Hopefully, we can change that.

The soil food web

While doing research at Colorado State University, Dr. Elaine Ingham examined what the different groups of organisms in and around soil do for that ecosystem. She coined the ecosystem the “soil food web.”

The Soil Food Web. Source: USDA.gov.

The 5 trophic levels (groups of organisms) of a healthy soil food web:

1. Photosynthesizers. Plants, waste matter, residue and metabolites from plants, animals and microbes.
2. Micro-decomposers. Bacteria, fungi and tiny nematodes such as worms.
3. Shredders. Protozoa, slightly bigger fungal- and bacterial-feeding nematodes and microarthropods.
4. Higher level predators. Macroscopic predatory nematodes and arthropods, such as spiders, ants and centipedes.
5. Higher level predators. Birds, rodents, etc.

Soil must have most of these groups of critters to be considered true soil. Otherwise, call it what it is: dirt. Any growing medium that’s lacking the basic life forms needed to cycle nutrients and create space for its inhabitants is not soil, it’s just dirt, clay, or what have you. And dirt won’t grow things very well, nor for very long, without regular applications of chemical fertilizers. Moreover, you get a fraction of a plant’s potential nutrient content when you grow using “conventional” methods.

Each class of organism in the soil food web plays a role in

• nutrient cycling
• soil structure
• water retention
• nutrient density
• yield
• disease resistance
• decomposition
• erosion control
• population control of the others.

Each micro- and macro-organism group supports the health and productivity of the community, in an ecosystem more dynamic and dependent than previously thought. Each organism is doing something that needs to be done in the soil to grow the healthiest, most nutritious plants possible, and sustain the group. So, as Nature would have it, organisms in the soil food web form a community much like microbes in the gut. Yet no one had ever studied exactly what each of these groups is doing in the soil. Experts had just observed microorganisms like bacteria and amoeba living in soil and figured they were opportunists, just looking for a place to stay.

Dr. Russ Ingham did an experiment that changed everything we know about soil composition and plant health

He tried growing a wheat seedling in soil that had been sterilized – adding back each type of organism, one at a time, to gauge each one’s contribution. He started with just bacteria. It didn’t go well. The plant died. Same thing with just fungi; the seedling just died faster. Then he added bacteria and fungi together, and the plant still died. Then Dr. Russ added bacteria and protozoa. And the plant grew, but it wasn’t happy. The difference was, protozoa and bacteria together made more minerals available for the plants to use.

Next, he put (1) bacteria, (2) bacteria-eating protozoa, and (3) bacteria-eating nematodes in at the same time, and the plant grew even better because there was even more nutrient cycling (exchange) going on. He proceeded to try every combination to determine each group’s specific effect on the rest of the ecosystem. With each successive experiment, it became more and more clear that each group of organism does something important for the community of critters in the soil and beyond.

Bacteria and fungi have a superpower that fuels the food chain

As valuable as those discoveries were, there was one biologic activity more profound than any other. The Inghams came to the stunning realization that there’s one essential mechanism that initiates everything… something Big Ag lacks in both principle and practice. This mechanism lays the groundwork for all life on earth (dry land, that is). It starts the entire food chain. Without it, life on terra firma would not exist.

Bacteria and fungi secrete enzymes and acids that solubilize (dissolve) minerals locked up in sand, silt, rock and clay – converting them into a plant-available form. These microorganisms get the whole food chain started by releasing minerals from the earth so they can be absorbed and used by plants as their food. It’s an indispensable step in the cycle of life – as important as sunlight itself, because minerals are present in inexhaustible quantities almost anywhere on dry land that you choose to look. But you need bacteria and fungi to unlock them.

“There is no soil on the face of the earth that lacks the nutrients to grow healthy plants.” —Dr. Elaine Ingham.

In fact, Dr. Elaine says one grain of sand contains enough trace minerals to supply an acre of crop for a year!

The problem is, those minerals are usually not abundant in a bio-available form because minerals in rock, sand, silt and clay are bound in the crystalline structure of the silica layers that comprise rocks. Thus, they’re unusable. In order to be released, the minerals first need bacteria and fungi to gobble them up and convert them into an organic form by metabolizing them. These newly solubilized minerals then get stored in the physical structure of bacteria and fungi as organic compounds. However, they’re still not accessible to others.

The next step is bacteria-eating protozoa (single-celled organisms with animal-like behaviors such as amoeba), microarthropods and earthworms will eat the bacteria that have collected extremely high concentrations of minerals in their cells from all the minerals they consumed. Now loaded with more minerals than they can possibly use, and harmful if retained, these little predators move around and deposit mineral-rich feces near the plant’s root surface, which the plant can then absorb. That’s how minerals become accessible to the food chain.

The net result of Nature’s growing process is that plants receive the maximum amount of nutrition that they need, which produces the most nutrient-dense plants possible. And, contrary to the way our ancestors farmed, crops never need to be “rotated” when grown in this bio-friendly way. When you have a healthy ecosystem of microcritters in the soil – that is, when they’re in balance – you don’t have to add anything to the soil. Nature figured out this nutrient exchange thing in the food chain long ago. She’s many steps ahead of us (and is likely to be for some time).

Mycorrhizal fungi form a smaller, finer root system around a plant’s own roots, thereby increasing its nutrient absorption

Plant roots have limited ability to extract nutrients directly from soil, due to their limited surface area. So many kinds of plant partner with a beneficial fungus called “mycorrhizal fungi” to absorb the nutrients that bacteria unlock through the process described above. Mycorrhizal fungi grow around the root system of these plants, forming a more complex pseudo-root system that envelope the plant’s own roots with finer branches. In doing so, mycorrhizal fungi do most of the nutrient gathering work for the plant by multiplying its absorption capacity.

The mycorrhizae attach itself to the plant’s roots, and with its super-fine web of filaments, supply the plant with minerals pulled from the soil. In return, the plant feeds sugars and proteins to the mycorrhizae through its root exudates. This symbiotic relationship gives plants maximum absorption capability and nutrient density – much of which is missing in modern farming practices because beneficial fungi is not supported (to put it kindly) in commercial agriculture. Net result: With most crops, natural farming techniques easily outproduce conventionally-grown ones.

The importance of soil structure

Microbial life at the bottom of the food chain – bacteria and fungi – have another skillset that’s sorely missing from mechanical farming. And that is, they create “soil structure” – like a tiny cave system. Without this active community of microlife underneath the surface, the sand, silt, clay and rock of the earth get more and more compressed over time. Eventually, most material without organic life in it gets so compacted that natural geologic processes turn it into rock. Indeed, that’s how rock is made.

Conversely, when you have biology in the soil, it creates structure consisting of clumps and voids held in place by the cross-linking fibers from fungi. These open spaces allow water to penetrate much more easily into soil, move through it, and stay in the soil like a sponge. In fact, biologically-structured soil absorbs and retains moisture up to 70% better than conventional farming techniques – which means you don’t have to water nearly as much. In some cases, you never need to water your crop – even going many months without rainfall. In fact, some crops can survive on the moisture absorbed from morning dew alone!

Good structure also keeps nutrients in the soil, and prevents toxic run-off such as inorganic fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides from contaminating waterways downstream from these factory farms. In addition, soil structure allows air and oxygen to move through the soil, allowing microorganisms deep below the surface to breathe.

Soil structure gives microorganisms a place to live, and protection from being displaced

Soil microbiota is housed and fed with the help of cross-linking fibers produced by fungi, called “hyphae.” You can think of fungal hyphae as an underground network of structural support cables – like that of a pop-up tent. After microcritters break up the dirt/clay hardpan into little clumps called “aggregates,” the fungal hyphae interconnect the clumps so they and the gang don’t move around.

This gives microorganisms something stable to hold on to so they don’t get washed away with the first rainfall. As you might suspect, the spaces between the clumps are the most important feature of soil structure. The spaces create living quarters, short-term storage facilities, transportation tunnels, and ventilation shafts for all the members of the soil food web to live in. And the fungal hyphae keep everything in place.

Soil structure and microlife form an active, living filter that traps and neutralizes toxins

Another secret skill of soil bacteria, like their intestinal counterparts, is that they’re good at detoxifying harmful substances in the soil, such as heavy metals, industrial chemicals and petroleum pollution. Bacteria have a knack for either altering the chemical properties of pollutants to neutralize them of toxicity, or grabbing hold of them until they can be washed away. Plus, bacteria are always reproducing, so their detoxification capacity grows or continues without re-applying chemical “detoxifying” agents.

However, because each toxin has a different molecular structure, and differing effects on the body, you may need several strains of bacteria to deal with the toxins at-hand. Unfortunately, we’re losing microbial diversity due to modern growing practices and, along with it, go the planet’s natural toxin filtration capacity.

Healthy plants can protect themselves

When indigenous soil bacteria are present and productive, chemical pesticides and herbicides are generally not needed, because beneficial bacteria coat the plant’s above-ground foliage with a protective layer that acts as a physical barrier against pests and disease. Below the surface, plants in robust health produce herbicidal compounds that keep competitor plants (particularly weeds) from growing in their immediate ground-space. It’s only when the natural balance of the ecosystem is upset by tilling and inorganic fertilizers that man needs to step in and “help” a crop by adding herbicides, fungicides and pesticides.

Plants are smarter than we think

Plants are actively orchestrating the show the whole time. They know what they need. And they know how to get it, because they are the ones controlling the microorganism populations that help them grow. They do this by secreting sugar, protein and carbohydrate “exudates” – basically cakes and cookies – through their root system.

The plant releases exudates through its root structure that selectively feed those exact strains of bacteria that are good at providing the plant with the specific mineral combination it needs at that moment. You see, each strain of bacteria has a particular talent for converting a certain set of minerals through their normal metabolism.

Through this process, the plant partners with bacteria and fungi as a home delivery service to bring it whatever food it wants, when it wants it, which may change nearly minute-to-minute. The plant actively adjusts bacterial populations around it to get the exact nutrients it wants. By maximizing the nutrients it gets from the soil, the plant optimizes: (1) its health, (2) its resistance to pests and disease and, of course, (3) its nutritional value to those that eat it.

The difference is, plants grown as Nature designed them to grow are better at fighting off pests and disease. It’s only when modern farming corrupts the growing process that they grow vulnerable to attack. It is then that they need to be watered and fed like dependents. Extrapolated out, when any life form is nutrient deficient – people, plants or animals – its resistance suffers, and its health diminishes – even if it looks well-fed.