“The challenge facing most farmers today is that conventional agriculture has really decimated the topsoil with tilling and the use of synthetic fertilizers, both of which disrupt and destroy microbial life. Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has warned that at the current rate of topsoil degradation, all the world’s topsoil will be gone in less than 60 years.1
Farmers have for a long time been told they need to apply phosphorous, yet Rick Haney, with the Texas Agricultural Research Service (ARS), claims there’s not a single peer-reviewed research paper demonstrating it has a positive effect on plants.
The current production model is based on yields. The entire farm program, and the payments farmers receive from the government are all based on yield. Revenue insurance is also obtained based on past yields. But yields have nothing to do with nutrition. Synthetic phosphorous may increase yield somewhat, but does nothing to improve the nutrient content of the food.”
The five basic principles for building a healthy soil ecosystem are: not disturbing the soil microbiome, protecting the soil surface with cover crops, diversification, maintaining living roots in the ground as long as possible and integrating livestock and insects
Click to read the original article by Dr. Mercola
Sources:
“How to Use Regenerative Farming Principles to Grow Healthier Food in Your Own Garden” by Dr. Mercola
