Healthy Soils are a living natural resource. It gives us life and we rely on it. So, how we can we help our soil and promote great health? How do we know it’s healthy?
We’re going to dig deep and explore healthy soil. Let’s first start by defining health soil.
What is healthy soil?
Healthy soil is the ability to function as a living system. It performs a range of duties to meet the needs of farmers and the community.
Balance is important, amongst biological, physio-chemical and mineral components. The mineral part consists of sand, silt and clay particles. Physio-chemical consists of soil aggregates, pore space, reactive surfaces, and organic and inorganic compounds. And the biological component consists of roots, insects, invertebrates and microorganisms. For soil to be healthy, it must sustain biological productivity, store and cycle water, decompose organic matter, inactivate toxic compounds, suppress pathogen and protect water quality.
Soil characteristics that contribute to great health include:
- Protected soil surface and low erosion rates
- High soil organic matter
- High biological activity and biological diversity
- High available moisture storage capacity
- Favourable soil pH
- Deep root zone
- Balanced stores of available nutrients
- Resilient and stable soil structure
- Adequate internal drainage
- Favourable soil strength and aeration
- Favourable soil temperature
- Low levels of soil born pathogens
- Low levels of toxic substances.
Poor water quality and soil degradation are symptoms of poor soil health.
Healthy soils produce healthy crops
Healthy, biodiverse soil will foster high levels of beneficial soil organisms and low levels of potentially harmful ones. This results in a soil rich in fresh residues, otherwise known as organic matter – feeding large numbers of organisms and foster abundant biological activity.
Our Kemgro products are designed to keep soil healthy. We believe in sustainable farming through nutritious fertilisers. We create sustainable crop solutions to grow healthy soil for the future.
Working together to let life, as we know it, live on.
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