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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Wheat is the new oil: Nutrient Cycling

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Phil Bunch" <pbunch@cox.net>
  • To: "'Healthy soil and sustainable growing'" <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Wheat is the new oil: Nutrient Cycling
  • Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:45:08 -0700

Sunlight is useless without the mineral nutrients. Mineral "mining" using
any method is a short term fix. Once the mined nutrients are exported they
have to be replaced or crops will fail.

Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:livingontheland-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Harvey
Ussery
Sent: Monday, July 31, 2006 8:45 AM
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Wheat is the new oil: Nutrient Cycling

> Perhaps I missed part of the conversation but if any part of the crop
leaves
> the land it was grown on and the manure and urine that results from its
use
> does not return, there will be a net loss of nutrients.

Not so fast, Phil. Don't forget that *sunlight* is also being added on
the plus side of the equation. As long as the nutrients exported (farm
produce) do not exceed the addition to fertility made possible by
sunlight, agriculture is sustainable.

> Nitrogen can be
> compensated by the planting on nitrogen-fixing crops but the other mineral
> nutrients are lost to the local system. They must be returned via some
form
> of fertilizer.
>
> Phil

Again, it's not quite that simple. Another possibility is to "mine"
minerals out of the deep subsoil using extremely deep-rooted fertility
crops. You mentioned nitrogen-fixing crops, but alfalfa, for example,
not only fixes nitrogen, but is deep-rooted and brings up minerals from
the depths as well. Comfrey puts down roots 8-10 ft deep, bringing up
minerals that would otherwise never be available to more shallow-rooted
crops. Can't substantiate this, but I have read--can give you the ref if
you like--that most decent agricultural soils have enough mineral
content in the deep subsoil to support 100,000 years of agriculture, if
sanely farmed.

~Harvey

--
Harvey in northern Va
www.themodernhomestead.us
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