The less intensively you manage the soil, the better the soil can function.
The less intensively you manage the soil, the better the soil can function. Such as not ploughing as often or using more grass-clover mixtures as cover crops. These are the conclusions from a research team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Surprisingly, it applies to both conventional and organic farming. These important insights for making agriculture more sustainable are published in the scientific journal Science today. ‘It offers clear evidence to help farmers manage soils better.’
Growing food more sustainably: what's the best way to do this? It is one of the big challenges: producing enough food without compromising the soil. After all, healthy soil has many functions - called multifunctionality - and for sustainable agriculture these must be preserved.
‘A multifunctional soil is essential for sustainable food production, because plants get their food from it,’ state the researchers from NIOO and Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands), and the Universität Tübingen (Germany). ‘Soil also has indispensable roles in water storage, coping with climate change and disease suppression.’
Read more at Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Image: During this agricultural soil field work, the researchers measure a wide array of soil conditions in the arable fields to evaluate the multifunctionality of the soil. The many functions of a healthy soil should be retained to make agriculture sustainable. (Credit: Ron de Goede /Wageningen University)
