Fertile Fields

This appeared in the October 15, 2020 edition of The Fish Wrap

Fertilizer such as Nitrogen is added to soil to make it more fertile, with higher yields. Getting the levels right is complicated, but agronomists like Richard Mulvaney at the U of I give us formulas for how much to add. Mulvaney recently sat down to talk with one of our heroes, John Kempf of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). Mulvaney bravely revealed that his study had overturned many things conventional wisdom said about Nitrogen amendments.

Long-term studies compared fields where Nitrogen was added in the recommended amounts to fields where none was added. Incredibly, Mulvaney and his colleagues found that the fields where no Nitrogen was added had higher Nitrogen concentration and higher yields. This counter-intuitive result is all about homeostasis. In a complex system like soil, Mother Nature is always working to provide everything that is needed. When we add something from outside the system,the balance is thrown off.

If you are a coffee drinker you know about homeostasis. We are born with chemicals that help us relax into sleep and others that help keep us alert. Then we try coffee and it really perks us up! We enjoy the increased alertness so much that we drink coffee whenever we need a boost. Soon, sensing that we are plenty alert from the coffee, mother nature shifts to producing fewer stay awake chemicals and more sleepy time chemicals. The homeostasis has been thrown off and now we rely on the coffee to function. 

It’s the same with Nitrogen. The soil reduces Nitrogen production in an attempt to achieve balance. The introduced Nitrogen binds with any Carbon (organic matter) in the soil and burns it up, depleting the nutrients in the soil and reducing yield. Regenerative Agriculture is about gratefully working with Mother Nature to achieve her natural balance and abundance.