This week, on December 5th "World Soil Day" was celebrated. This day celebrates the importance of soil and aims to draw attention to the declining soil health witnessed around the world - having major global consequences on food security.
So why is soil important?
Soil provides ecosystem services critical for life: soil acts as a water filter and a growing medium; provides habitat for billions of organisms, contributing to biodiversity; and supplies most of the antibiotics used to fight diseases. Humans use soil as a holding facility for solid waste, filter for wastewater, and foundation for our cities and towns. Finally, soil is the basis of our nation’s agroecosystems which provide us with feed, fiber, food and fuel.
For the above reasons and more this is why at Good Harvest we always say "we don't farm plants, we farm soil' it is at our absolute core to ensure we are continually improving the soil quality and we do this through crop rotation, planting cover crops, using no till methods with minimal disturbance to the soil and continually improving the balance and nutrition of the soil through microbials and worm life.
FUN FACTS:
- There are more living individual organisms in a tablespoon of soil than there are people on the earth.
- Almost all of the antibiotics we take to help us fight infections were obtained from soil microorganisms.
- Agriculture is the only essential industry on earth.
- Soil is a nonrenewable natural resource.
- About 70% of the weight of a text book or glossy paged magazine is soil.
