Geography For Schools

A fertile soil is the foundation of good agriculture. It is teeming with life and contains all the water, air and nutrients that plants need.

 

Soils

The most important part of the soil is the vast range of life it contains. A teaspoon of soil may contain 500 million micro-organisms and 1 kilometre of fungus. All of this life is largely responsible for how fertile the soil is.

 

Sticky substances they exude bind the soil together into lumps, which allows water and air to circulate freely. Soil organisms are vital in cycling nutrients between soil and plants, and can help to prevent loss of nutrients to the environment as pollution.

 

Mycorrhizal fungi grow out from plant roots into the soil and actually take up nutrients for the plant in return for food from the plant, a symbiotic relationship found in almost all plants.

 

Wise farmers encourage soil life which helps them produce better crops. Organic farming is the best way to get a fertile soil, but all good farmers are careful to look after their soil.

 

Soil organisms have lots of other important functions. For example, in the correct conditions they can take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and lock it away in the soil, so reducing global climate change. They also help to break down agricultural chemicals into less harmful substances.

 

John Baddeley
Researcher (Ecophysiologist) at SAC Aberdeen