Soil Health

The interns studying a diploma in Organic Farming learn that soil health is the foundation of all agricultural enterprises. Soil health is a reflection of the eco-system. A healthy soil is critical for farm sustainability and profitability. 

Good soil fertility management is not just about optimal productivity but also maintaining soil health for its longevity. If the soil is fertile and healthy then the crops, pastures and grazing animals will also be healthy. We wouldn’t exist without it. It is the soil that many important nutrients are exchanged and transformed into forms that are usable by earths inhabitants. 

'One teaspoon of soil contains more living things than there are people the world.'

Green Gate Organic farm is in the business of converting soil to food. It is this reason we begin the organic farming course learning that soil is a living ecological nutrient cycling system. The farm encompasses a complex eco-system of which the soils play a major role. The farm ‘rules’ guided by agro-ecology and sustainable farm design help maintain our soil in a healthy state. 

We carefully consider how we sustain healthy soil biology that perpetuates our farms food production systems. Understanding the contributions from the sun, plants and the grazing animals help us manage the farms soil fertility. Enhancing microbial activity in the soil eco-system reduces the dependance on chemical fertilisers as the bacteria and fungi does the work.

Our worm farms provide many uses. We utilise the worm leachate as a fertiliser on our crops. The castings are added to soil medium for propergating plants and we supplement feed the worms to our chickens for additional protein when insect activity is low at different times of the year. 

watch here about the role of soils