What is Happening in the Soil? - Soil Regeneration Australia

What is Happening in the Soil?

A simplistic view of a complex system.
Before synthetic fertilisers, plants would obtain their nutrients through an exchange process with Bacteria and Fungi

The plant photosynthesises, produces polysaccharides and exchanges these simple sugar with the bacteria for converted plant available minerals and nutrients.

The chemical revolution started around 1960. Synthetic fertilisers were identified to boost plant growth and profits.

Applying synthetic fertilisers makes the soil unattractive for biology. So the biology migrates. Remember, the biology converted the minerals and nutrients for the plant. Less biology implies less conversion. So the plant performs worse and the farmer is told by the chemical companies, apply more chemical. Ultimately, the result is unhealthy soil in an unstainable practice of chemical application.

Back to blog