2 minute read
Humic Acids
USING WATER MORE EFFECTIVELY IN AGRICULTURE AND SAVING COSTS AND RESOURCES
Worldwide, 17 countries currently suffer from extreme freshwater shortages. A quarter of the people are threatened by acute freshwater shortages. This particularly affects agriculture, as it consumes around 70 percent of all freshwater. Due to climate change, with rising global temperatures and simultaneously decreasing rainfall, agriculture is becoming increasingly dependent on artificial irrigation in order to ensure food supplies. This is expensive and can ultimately destroy livelihoods. But why is water so important? And how can humic acids help to conserve the valuable resource water and save costs?
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Water dynamics or: The soil breathes
Water fulfills many functions in the soil. Among other things, it has a direct influence on soil respiration. With the help of water, the soil exchanges air and supplies soil life with oxygen. And this is how it works: The soil contains a pore system comparable to that of a sponge. If the sponge is relatively dry, most pores are filled with air. If water enters these pores due to precipitation or groundwater fluctuations, the air is displaced and escapes. As soon as the water leaves the porous sponge again, oxygenrich air flows into the pore system.
An active soil life promotes a stable pore system
In healthy soils, the pore system accounts for about 45 percent. Its stability is mainly ensured by active soil life. Bacteria, fungi, roots and animals excrete slimy exudates that stick the soil particles together and create a stable aggregate structure. If a soil is in such a state, it can fully perform its function as a water reservoir. In addition, the structure and thus the ability of the soil to breathe remains intact even after heavy rainfall.
Without soil life there is no pore system and no respiration
An active soil life is directly related to soil fertility. However, most of the world's man-made land has been affected by declining fertility for decades. There are many reasons for this, including too few or inactive soil life. This affects the stability of the pore system, which lacks the excretions of microorganisms and fauna - the soil absorbs water less and is less able to store it. The consequences for the oxygen
balance and the availability of nutrients can be dramatic.
Humic acids improve the soil properties in the long term
Here the use of humic acids can play a decisive role. Humic acids activate soil life and improve the chemical and physical soil properties. With the help of microorganisms, they form stable clay-humus complexes in the soil, which, in cooperation with microorganisms such as the earthworm, create a solid aggregate structure in the soil. In this way, an ideal ratio of good aeration and high water absorption and storage capacity is created in the soil.
Soil improvers that help to save water
Humic acids therefore help to improve the soil structure so that water can be used more effectively. The need for artificial irrigation is reduced and water and money are saved. Humic acids are therefore ideally suited as part of an integrated humus building strategy in agriculture.
