Healthy productive soils

By Mike Stoker.

As the harvest of 2023 is now well and truly underway across the UK – the management of soils to determine how the crop feeds and ‘on what’ is quite possibly not a high priority during this time of year! However, for healthy productive soils that can deliver nutrient dense crops, the option to discuss, could be the regenerative best practice approach, this can offer greater environmental resilience for the future, by adopting principals that encourage healthier more productive carbon rich soils, building strong biodiversity in the rhizosphere, or root zone where complex interactions are constantly occurring between plant roots and soil microbes, forming organic compounds which interact with nutrients and their availability.

Therefore, maintaining healthy organic matter and carbon is a strategy to consider. Soils that are high in soil organic carbon (1.5% to 2.0% carbon or 2.5% to 3.5% organic matter) produce higher yields and are far more resistant to abiotic and biotic stress. Carbon is now growing in importance in UK farming, with the UK government’s ‘Carbon Credits’ scheme as a part of its climate change commitment to reduce gashouse emissions to net zero by 2050 – yet ironically it has always been an essential part of a healthy soil!

Traditional soil analysis is an interpretation of analytical values considered in isolation and does not allow an understanding of actual soil fertility. As a starting point we need to ensure that the soil is sufficient in Nutrients, Organic matter, Biology, and Carbon and understand the soil texture matrix (clay, silt, sand) as this also determines retention and release of nutrients. With this knowledge and understanding the interaction between nutrients, pH, organic matter, and soil texture, will enable us to achieve the optimum performance from our soil.

Soil organic matter is an essential constituent for the fertility of the soil as it is the “flywheel” that transfers nutrient elements from the soil to root - playing a crucial role in supporting the bacterial flora which mineralise soil nitrogen and in addition, stimulates active nutrient exchange to maintain availability, while increasing the availability of trace elements owing to the acid functions of the many humic compounds being created.

Woody perennials are powerful ‘sequesters’ of carbon too, a process which involves the removal of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil organic matter and above ground in a plant’s biomass by the action of photosynthesis –documented evidence indicates that phytoliths (silica structures formed in roots, stem and leaves) are associated with the molecules that contain carbon, such as cellulose and proteins, these degrade slowly – they therefore constitute an important silicacarbon sink. Silicon will boost the strength of cells and once a plant absorbs silicon, it is permanently deposited into cell walls within a matter of hours. The deposits form a strong silica-cellulose framework that is created quickly so the plant develops faster and can grow quicker while positively affecting the uptake and absorption of macro and micronutrients, such as Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Zinc. Any plant deficiency presented is a signal given to us by the plant to give us the opportunity to ‘bring it back’ to its normal photosynthetic equilibrium from its state of obvious distress – we should never underestimate a deficiency, as the plants resistance to disease and longevity will be compromised.

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me on 07444 837470 or email Mike.stoker99@gmail.com