Synthetic fertilizers have certainly played important roles in food and fiber production and increasing crop yields over the years. However, excessive fertilizer use can quietly harm these beneficial soil microbe communities, in addition to fueling water pollution.
Studies have shown that overfertilizing can weaken the underground partnerships between plants and microbes that are fundamental to helping plants access nutrients and tolerate stress. Too much nitrogen fertilizer can reduce the diversity and abundance of beneficial soil microbes.
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/63106
Across North America, in places such as Illinois, Iowa and Texas, farmers are busy growing the crops the world depends on for food, fuel and fiber.
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My mom always questions why volunteer oaks started popping up on our property. I try to tell her, every time, that it’s because we don’t use poison and we don’t cut down our fields. Over time, all that thatch growing, setting, decaying, etc. has clearly done wonders for the soil. Mushrooms also frequently pop up in our fields, which I’ve read is a good indicator for soil health.
She consistently tries to argue that weed seeds are bad for compost so they must be bad for the soil. I gave up.
She’s right in the sense that viable seeds in fertilizer is somewhat counter to the intended purpose.
In compost, yes — you’re sort of defeating the purpose by putting in seeds that the compost will never be chemically hot enough to kill.
This is just a field, though. Not compost. The only reason it ever gets cut down is because the fire department says ‘ayo, that’s a fire hazard’. As it turns out, letting native wild plants (weeds) grow in your field is good for the soil — I’m sure I can find some research articles that back what I’m saying up.
I’m not sure where you are, but in many places the correct thing to do is to burn your fields off. Fire does a lot of good for fields.
Check with someone who is knowledgeable what really happened in your area though. There are differences that are important that mean places only a mile apart may need very different treatment.
Burning fields is not good for your fields, it is good for farming. It clears fields of pests and unwanted weeds without using huge amounts of poison.
It is especially bad in places that flood, like where I live. You burn your fields, it rains, all that ash and top soil just gets washed away.
Tillage is much more damaging to soils and these systems than fertilization. I won’t refute that Chem. Fertilizer can have negative effects, but this is generally more of a chronic issue that builds up over time
