Dirt is Dead—Soil is Alive!
Regenerative agriculture focuses on improving soil biology and fertility. Its techniques and concepts are often applied to land where the topsoil has been degraded by years of industrial farming.
Why is our Topsoil Degraded?
In 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations calculated that, based on our topsoil health, we have about 60 years of harvests left. This is a daunting statistic, but what does it mean? Essentially, soil degradation, including erosion, salinization, nutrient depletion, loss of biodiversity, pollution, compaction and loss of organic matter, is so widespread worldwide that it’s threatening our ability to grow food. Many farming methods do not keep the soil alive, including monoculture growing, overuse of industrial fertilizer, lack of cover crops, and concentrated livestock waste, leading to the issues listed above.
What is healthy soil?
Degraded soil (or dirt) lacks organic matter and living microbes. Healthy soil can function as a living system and contains organic matter, which includes anything alive or that was once living, such as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae, protozoa, nematodes, earthworms or decaying roots. Through conscientious agricultural and ecological practices, with composting and an emphasis on minimal soil disturbance, regenerative agriculture builds back soil health.
“Soil health is the capacity of soil to function as a living system. Healthy soils maintain a diverse community of soil organisms that help to control plant disease, insect and weed pests, and form beneficial symbiotic associations with plant roots. Healthy soils recycle essential plant nutrients, improve soil structure with positive repercussions for soil water and nutrient holding capacity, and ultimately improve crop production. A healthy soil does not pollute the environment; rather, it contributes to mitigate climate change by maintaining or increasing its organic carbon content.” – UN FAO Year of Soils
Healthier Soil = Healthier Food
With this natural system restored, plants and animals (including humans!) thrive. Why? Because healthier soil creates healthier food. Healthier soil also does a better job at the critical ecosystem services we need to survive. Soil ecosystem services include sequestering carbon, filtering and retaining water, air quality and temperature regulation, carbon, nutrient and water cycling, decomposition and providing habitat for most living things and their food, and so much more.
Regenerative Agriculture at Ocean Hour Farm
Regenerative land management is at the heart of Ocean Hour Farm. Our land management plan integrates plant, animal, and human systems to sequester carbon, manage stormwater runoff and quality, and promote healthy soils.
A critical part of our mission is to conduct regenerative agriculture trials that have potential value for our bio-region. As they develop, the lessons learned will be shared through case studies and in-person workshops with farmers and other land stewards so that success can be replicated and failures avoided.
Composting is central to our regenerative agriculture work. It allows us to build soil and grow healthier food in a smaller space.
Further Reading
- Kiss the Ground’s Guide to Regenerative Agriculture
- NRDC’s Regenerative Agriculture 101
- Soil Society of America’s Soil and the Environment
- Rodale Instituite’s What is Healthy Soil? & Agriculture Trials
- What Your Food Ate: How to Heal Our Land and Reclaim Our Health by David R. Montgomery & Anne Biklé
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