Pay More Attention to Soil Health

October 18, 2018

Pay More Attention to Soil Health

More consideration should be given to practices that will give long-term benefits to the soil which, in time, could reduce overall production costs.

Article written by Chuck Grantham

Harvest season is well underway and there are still many crops yet to be harvested. With that said, it is not too soon to plan on how to improve your 2019 crop. Most producers focus on varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides when planning the next crop season and very few farmers really give a hard look at soil health.

In the past, agricultural practices have failed to promote healthy populations of microorganisms, limiting production yields and threatening sustainability. Unfortunately, many of the agricultural practices that were standard practice for years, such as excessive land clearing, the burning of stubble, excessive fertilizer application, and over-tillage, have degraded soils and triggered conditions such as salinity, acidification, soil structural decline, and desertification.

Scientific research is exploring new and exciting possibilities for the restoration of degraded farmland through the promotion of healthy and beneficial microbial populations in the soil. BSEI is proud to be a pioneer and global partner in this industry of microbials for soil health through our SumaGrow products.

Microbes are just as important to soil health as they are to human and animal health. Free-living microbes strongly regulate plant productivity, through the mineralization of, and competition for nutrients that sustain plant productivity.

Almost all soil organisms need the same things that we need to live: food, water, and oxygen. They eat carbon-based food source, which provides all their nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus. They require a moist habitat, with access to oxygen in the air spaces in soil. These reasons explain why 75 percent of soil organisms are found in the top five centimeters of soil. It also explains, however, why many of our soil populations are depleted from the unsustainable farming practices mentioned earlier.

Until recently, information regarding the fundamental need for a healthy population of microorganisms for productive soil and cropping has been limited. In fact, for over a decade, BSEI has been one of the few companies dedicated to the research and development of microbes for soil health and certainly almost singular in promoting the emerging science.

Fortunately, global private investment has spawned broader-scale scientific research into the inoculation of soils and seeds with beneficial bacteria and fungi, to great success. However, for this success to be sustainable, this science must be partnered with farming practices that help create healthier soils that can sustain prolonged high rates of growth for these introduced beneficial microbes.

BSEI has promoted balanced and integrated farming practices from the very beginning. SumaGrow soil inoculants infuse the soil with concentrated, beneficial microbes to repopulate and help balance the soil’s bacteria and fungi that have been damaged and/or destroyed by fertilizers, tilling,and even harvesting.

Our blend of microorganisms are selected for their abilities to maximize the use of residual plant nutrients, reduce fertilizer use by increasing its efficiency, and support the release of those plant nutrients presently bound in minerals and salts.

For more information about SumaGrow, please email us at info@sumagrow.com or call us at 601-582-4000. Of course, our website is available 24/7 at www.sumagrow.com.