Every Soil is alive
A single teaspoon of soil can contain billions of microscopic bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. A handful of the same soil will contain numerous earthworms, arthropods, and other visible crawling creatures. Healthy soil is a complex community of life and actually supports the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet called earth !
But we farmers and our ignorance about underground soil science converted most of soil into dirt – dead matter!
We humans started ploughing the fields in the experiment called “agriculture” in the beginning of our civilization.
First farmers noticed that when they tilled the field their crops would grow faster and continue to turn land after land for more agro yield ! But now we know the truth – soil bacterias , microbes are almost 90% nitrogen and tilling the soil was killing the life in the soil resulting in an unregulated jolt of nutrient available to the surrounding plants. with the death of all soil microbes, the soil is unable to naturally support life and the farmer developed the soil fertility inputs – mechanical tilling , mechanical irrigation , synthetic fertilizer , hybrid seeds ..with a sole intention to increase the agro input from the dirt !
a soil with no carbon is a dead soil.
Without carbon, fungus has no food source and dies.
The soil collapses, leading to hard packed dirt and anaerobic conditions (no oxygen).
What comes next are nature’s signs of a sick system trying to heal itself: weeds, pests and erosion !
The weeds that grow on the surface of the dead soil are a response to a condition in the soil . Weeds produce thousands of seeds and lots of carbon – they are fast carbon pathways. As the carbon in the soil increases, the soil is able to support fungal associates and bacterial populations encouraging the next stage of succession and return to soil health.
Get your own hands soiled in that land and nature will teach you -what next !