Restoring and rehabilitating the natural balance and diversity of the soil.

 
Modern soil management has certainly put huge pressure on our productive soils, and whilst there is a multitude of products and techniques which can help adjust soil nutrition or modify the physical properties of soil, very few of them can help build and repair the life our soils need to remain productive in the longer term.

To appreciate the Soilsmart focus you firstly need to reflect on the fact that our productive soils and the natural eco-systems that support them have taken millions of years to form. We have also been tilling the soil, tending to crops and feeding ourselves for thousands of years.

Fairly recently however, since the 1940's, we have witnessed the advent of inputs such artificial fertilizers, chemicals and high horsepower cultivation and since their introduction and large scale adoption our productive soils and the quality of the crops we produce from them has declined significantly. 

In any industry journal you will see an increasing number of articles deaing with soil decline, reduction in sustainability or environmental damge caused by chemical contamination. In the same journals you are also likely to read about the lastest pest or disease outbreak or the latest chemicals to combat the problem. 

Over the past 60 years or so, with population growth and the fast pace of progress, we seem to have have forgotten that our very existance on this planet is linked to the soil, in fact the minerals, vitamins and nutrients we need to survive are all extracted from the earth via the crops and animal products we consume daily.

The soil is actually a living thing - in addition to sand, silt and clay particles it contains numerous beneficial organisms which perform vital functions for the soil and for plants. So when we talk about rebuilding and rehabilitating soil health, we are talking about the need to look after all the primary soil components, the chemical, physical and biological aspects of the soil. These three components combine to build and maintain soil and plant health, but we seem to have overlooked the importance of soil biology.

It was possibly a lack of understanding about just how powerful and important these microscopic organisms are that caused them to be overlooked, but recent research has begun to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge and we are now well placed to help regain some lost ground in the biological stakes. No matter what soil based enterprise you are involved in, you should be taking some steps to offset the effects of chemicals and put something back into the soil.