Hi again everyone. Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. As they say, “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” The picture to the
right gives a fairly good representation about all the goings on in the soil and how the food soil web interacts. While the mechanics of the Carbon and Nitrogen cycles are pretty well understood these days, we’ve mostly been focused on the N cycle since that’s where we worm farmers have our most immediate impact on our soils. This happens at the “micro” level. Interestingly, at the “macro” level what is now coming to the fore is the impact the C cycle has on our global environment. Soil is the single biggest bank of Carbon on the planet and it is our agricultural practices that have the greatest impact on that cycle.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/articles/using-soil-to-fight-climate-change/
It is fascinating to me (though perhaps unsurprising) that there is a Yin/Yang relationship between these two scales. At once roots and microbes interact at the infinitesimal scale to produce a profoundly planetary result. Indeed, this gives new meaning to the adage “Think globally, act locally.” As individuals we may feel as if we’re tilting at Quixotic windmills, but as we steward our soils we can change the world.