This article – ‘Grow Roots to put Soil Microbes to Work’ – from the Rodale Institute with Soil Ecologist Francesca Cotrufo (Ph.D) provides a great explanation of the role of microbes and roots in the sequestration of carbon in soil.
The problem is that we treat agricultural soils like spoiled kids—I hope this is not offensive to anybody—we give continuous external inputs like fertilizers and pesticides, which is like continuously providing money to your child and never saying ‘go to work.’ We do not put the microbes in the soil to work and we even shortcut their work by adding nitrogen fertilizers. These inputs actually erode the soil community and its biodiversity.
Soil Ecologist Francesca Cotrufo, Ph.D. | RODALE Institute Article
With thanks to Stuart Chaney from Penergetic NZ for sharing this article with us.
Photo Credit: Kelly Lacy from Pexels