SOIL HEALTH IMPORTANCE.

 During his keynote, AEA founder John Kempf explained how to manage crop nutrition and the importance of using Sap analysis in a regenerative operation.  For more information, check out our website at advancingecoag.com 

Soil!  Find out how soil’s ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere may hold the key to solving the massive environmental problems caused by climate change. Panelists include: Ryland Engelhart and Calla Rose Ostrander of Kiss the Ground; Scott Murray, organic farmer and resource conservationist; Pablo Rojas, rancher,El Mogor Ranch, Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California; Keith Pezzoli, Director of Urban Studies and Planning, UC San Diego; David Bronner, CEO, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps; Justine Owen, soil scientist, UC Berkeley; and Michelle Lerach, Founder of the Berry Good Food Foundation. Series: "UC Climate Solutions Channel  " 

 A presentation by Ray Archuleta of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service at the National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health.  This session covered basic soil health principles necessary to build soil health, such as minimizing soil disturbance, keeping the soil covered at all times, growing a living root year round, and using plant diversity above ground to increase diversity below. It also reviewed soil health testing procedures.  Learn more at http://www.sare.org/covercropconference. 

A few voices of Biodynamic Agriculture share their view of the beautiful harmonies that exist within nature and how following Biodynamic practices can heal the land, influence our food systems and, in turn, nourish our health. To learn more visit http://kisstheground.com/biodynamic/
 

 "A forest is much more than what you see," says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery — trees talk, often and over vast distances. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes.   Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate 

  Fungi are the reason why life on land exists, as they helped plants move from the ocean onto land via symbiosis.   Even to this day, fungi is an incredibly important part of nature, and also has so many different uses to human. Although the word "fungus" may conjure up negativity in some, fungus has been the driving force for evolution, and life as we know it would be possible without them.    

   We now have a new understanding of the underground ecosystem. It turns out that fungi barter and trade with other organisms like little stockbrokers. New research has revealed that fungi barter and trade with other organisms, meaning there’s basically an entire economy of nutrients right beneath our feet that we are only just uncovering.   Possibly the most widely distributed organisms on Earth, fungi exist everywhere on Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole.   Fungi take elements like carbon that are trapped in organic matter, and through decomposition, process and release them back into the ecosystem for other organisms to use. Fungi do this by releasing a cocktail of enzymes and other helpful chemicals that allow them to break down organic material outside of their bodies so they can more easily digest the nutrients...this is how fungi cause decay.  But the thing is, fungi are more than just their essential role as nutrient cyclers—fungi that work with plants in this way can grow into structures called hyphae, or delicate thread-like tendrils that push into a plants’ roots forming mycorrhizae.  Mycorrhizae are symbiotic relationships that exist between fungi and the plants they glom on to.   In exchange for the essential nutrients that fungi provide for the plants, plants in return, form carbohydrates through photosynthesis and provide fungi with sugars creating a worldwide network of nutrient exchanges that occur between all kinds of microbes. The whole system is known as the Wood Wide Web.   And a research team in Amsterdam recently found that these nutrient exchanges might operate almost like an economy.  Learn more about this underground economy in the secret fungi kingdom on this episode of Elements.   #Fungi #Economy #Ecosystem #Plants #Seeker #Science #Elements How These Bacteria Become Electrical Cables That Could Power Our World https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPZTs... Read More:  Behind the Scenes: 

How Fungi Make Nutrients Available to the World https://www.energy.gov/science/articl..."To break down lignin, white rot fungi use strong enzymes, proteins that speed up chemical reactions. These enzymes split many of lignin's chemical bonds, turning it into simple sugars and releasing carbon dioxide into the air. White rot is still better at rending lignin than any other type of fungus"   Hidden Partners: Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plants https://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/hcol..."Fungi are microscopic cells that usually grow as long threads or strands called hyphae, which push their way between soil particles, roots, and rocks. "  Mycorrhizal networks in ecosystem structure and functioning http://www.functionalecology.org/view..."As mycorrhizal fungi tend to be non-specific in their choice of hosts, many plants can be linked through fungal hyphae in a common mycelial network (CMN). These networks can be enormous, with around 200m of mycorrhizal fungal hyphae present in a single gram of typical forest soil."  

Seeker empowers the curious to understand the science shaping our world. We tell award-winning stories about the natural forces and groundbreaking innovations that impact our lives, our planet, and our universe.   Visit the Seeker website https://www.seeker.com/videos 

Travel with Farming and Permaculture
As powerful decomposers and efficient nutrient movers, the world’s macro and micro fungi fulfill critical roles in the sustainment of resilient soil and habitat ecologies. In this talk, Peter will highlight these keystone fungal functions to demonstrate the many reasons that the funga should be placed alongside the flora and fauna in any discussion on environmental health. A talk by Peter McCoy Founder, Mycologos  SPEAKER EXPERTISE Peter McCoy is an author, researcher, and interdisciplinary educator advancing a variety of applied mycology fields.  https://mycologos.world https://www.soilregensummit.com/talks...

Pesticides are not new and are definitely not a human invention. Plants and other microorganisms have used chemicals to defend themselves from other organisms for hundred thousands of years.

Take, for example, walnut trees. Their roots produce a chemical called juglone that is secreted into the soil and inhibits nearby plant growth. This ensures the walnut tree has all the nearby nutrients and water for itself.

Plants also produce insecticides. Nicotine is the most famous example, produced by plants in the solanaceae family, including tomatoes, potatoes and, of course, tobacco. Many plant-eating insects avoid tobacco plants because nicotine is a powerful neurotoxin that can kill them.

Black walnut, pecan, hickory and other trees in the walnut family produce a chemical called juglone that may be toxic to nearby plants. Wikimedia

Humans have replicated this natural chemical warfare to produce pesticides that have become essential for agriculture. But insecticide use also raises concerns about their impact on non-target species such as bees, or their indirect effect on birds, which eat a lot of insects.

https://theconversation.com/3-ways-insecticides-can-be-counterproductive-in-agriculture-118669

SARE Outreach
A unique approach to looking at the big picture of soil health by comparing the economy of a country to the underground economy of the soil. The complex relationship between plants, soil, and biology and how they are interconnected and interdependent will be discussed. Economic fundamentals of supply, demand, currency, capital, energy, resources, infrastructure, and defense will be applied to the bustling subterranean economy of a healthy soil system. The role of carbon as the currency that facilitates interactions between plants, soil, and biology in this system will be discussed.   This presentation is part of the 2017 National Conference on Cover Crops and Soil Health. Slide presentations and additional conference information is available at http://www.sare.org/covercropconferen....  Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) provides grants and outreach to advance innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life. SARE is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

AdvancedAg Inc.
Joel is an independent plant and soil health educator and a healthy soil advocate. He provides lectures, workshops and consultation on soil management, plant nutrition and integrated approaches to sustainable food production. He earned a Bachelor of Agricultural Science in Australia specializing in plant and soil dynamics and has a particular interest in managing soil microbial ecology along with crop & soil nutrition to optimize plant immunity, soil function and soil carbon sequestration.  

 At what point of time do we realize that India's agriculture problems are actually everyone's problems? Even the most oblivious are not unfamiliar with the basics of this plot in India: an impoverished farmer, a weak harvest, mounting debts and the burden of many hungry stomachs. The ubiquity of this trope on screen and in real life should have ensured a uniform and universal application of a solution a long time ago, yet most Indian farmers still live within this cyclic narrative.  Prem Singh set out to crack the farming code, and talks about how, in doing so, he managed to turn his struggling farm into a lush green source of income, chasing transformation while preserving the ecological balance of the soil. His work sets an example for the nation and beyond.  

 Advancing Eco Agriculture Micronutrients are critical components of plant development. In this webinar, AEA founder John Kempf provides an in-depth look at the most important seven micronutrients for disease resistance and high-yield production. For each one, John discusses their functions within the plant, as well as the disease and insect prevention benefits each can provide with the correct management. John also talks about micronutrient mobility within the plant and the different methods of chelation. Slides available at https://www.slideshare.net/AdvancingE.... To learn more about AEA and regenerative agriculture, visit https://www.advancingecoag.com/ or email info@advancingecoag.com.

 Brendon Rockey

Take a look at the life beneath the soil in this classic film from Japan

Forest Service Healthy Soils are the foundation of healthy and productive forest ecosystems. Gary Schmitt, a soil scientist with the USDA Forest Service, presents an overview of forest soils.  Topics include: the ingredients of healthy soils, the composition and formation of soils, soil as habitat for many species, and the effects forest management have on soil and forest health. 

A presentation for the European Parliament by Pius Floris.  For more information visit https://www.phc.eu. 

Scientists at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill are studying how microbes in the soil, like bacteria and fungi, interact with a plant in ways that make the plant grow better.  Someday, this knowledge may be used to increase crop production for an expanding population.  Immerse yourself in the soil and find out how plants are helped and hurt by microbes that interact with their roots.    Produced by Morehead Planetarium and Science Center: http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org 

Consequences of excess fertilizer use as Nitrate Pollution of Groundwater, Eutrophication, Ammonia Volatilization , Acid Rain , Greenhouse Gases, Nitrogen Gas (N2) Emissions, Nitrogen Oxides (NO and NO2) emissions, Nitrous Oxide (N2O) emissions, Methane (CH4) emissions, Fertilizers and Gas Emissions, Trace Element and Heavy Metals Contamination, Oxygen Depletion, Quality of Environment due to Fertilizer Use  etc. 

 Conscious Planet is a Global Movement to initiate a conscious approach to soil and planet. The movement seeks to show governments of all nations that their citizens want a policy to revitalize soil and ecology.