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The process by which airborne nitrogen is captured and used by plants (below) is assisted by a complex web of fungi, bacteria and living creatures. Modern techniques of simply adding chemical-based nitrogen to otherwise dead soils has resulted in foods that lack most of their nutritional value.


of the world where soils support signifi cant levels of biomass, and the pace of desertifi - cation is increasing. It you’re a technotop- ian, you may feel this doesn’t matter—that farming technology is extracting more food from less land all the time. But this read- ing of what’s happening is based on an extremely “brittle” system, as he puts it. Because much of today’s farming is


completely fossil fuel dependent, not a result of thriving soils, the actual nutri- tional value of our foods decreases each year. Plants, Fulford says, are getting only a small part of what they need from these sickly soils. “The real healthcare system is nutri-


tion, but we live in a country where the health care system profi ts from sickness,” he says. “In the U.S., only 2% of us are in- volved in growing food, whereas in most countries it’s 70% or 80%. By the time food gets to our dinner table, it’s poison. All the nutrition is lost. Try opening your refrigera- tor and tracing everything in it back to its


origin. That’s a fearless moral inventory.” One of the most common mistakes


about soils, Fulford says, is the assumption that simply by measuring and ministering to pH, you can “fi x” the soil’s health. But soil acidity merely represents one aspect of the soil—like taking a person’s temperature. What’s more, pH changes constantly. The same soil may vary by as much as 2 points over 24 hours.


Wlll Bacteria Laugh Last? “We’re living in the Roman Empire on ste- roids,” Fulford asserts. “Non-humic soil can’t support microbial life. It can’t hold the lime- stone you put on it for fertilization. But you can’t buy humate off the shelf. It takes time. Compost is a homegrown humus. “Anytime you put chemistry on the


ground,” he explains, “you have to also supply food for soil microbes, stuff like compost is the best but often it’s not in- cluded in the picture. “Plants are feeding the soil, not just


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Source: 12biohvhs.blogspot.com


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