Increasing the supply of plant carbon in this way is an important first step in rebuilding soil carbon. They communicate with chemical signals. Some microbes are like weeds: They grow quickly in food-rich environments, but are sloppy eaters and waste much of what they consume.Much recent research has focused on adding organic material back to soils to restore them.My research group is now bioprospecting for groups of microbes that are especially efficient at forming new soil and recycling nutrients. New research suggests that by fostering an efficient and active soil microbiome, we can accelerate soil regeneration far beyond typical rates seen in nature. Making soils more healthy will make it possible to grow more food with fewer inputs, which will make farming more profitable and protect our air and water.In response, large companies, nonprofits, scientists and government agencies are working together to restore soil health.

They often work in teams to complete biochemical processes, such as transforming nitrogen from an inert gas to plant-usable forms, and recycling it from dead plant materials back into dissolved forms.They also are replacing intensive tilling with no-till practices to prevent the breakdown of soil structure.To maximise the proportion of plant carbon that is transformed into soil organic matter, we should aim to support and enhance soil microbiomes that quickly and efficiently transform dead plant materials into soil organic matter.Our soils are in trouble.We used to think that soil organic matter was formed from leftover bits of plants that were difficult to degrade. Over the past Carbon Steel Fasteners manufacturers century, we’ve abused them with ploughing, tilling and too much fertiliser.Losing carbon-rich organic matter from soils releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, which can accelerate climate warming.Healthy soils should also contain microbiomes that help prevent disease, cycle nutrients and help reduce plant stress. They work together to break down complex organic materials, including dead plants and animals.

There is now strong evidence that that the most persistent forms of soil carbon are formed primarily from dead microbial bodies rather than from leftover plant parts. The efficiency with which they create new biomass varies widely.This creates a temporary feast for soil microbes, but eventually they deplete their food supply and die off. Globally, soils contain more carbon than plants and the atmosphere combined. This is an important strategy, but I believe we also should aim to enhance the microbes that are responsible for soil formation..But by regenerating our soils, we can sequester more carbon underground and slow climate warming. But tilling crushes aggregates, unlocking their carbon and allowing microbes and soil fauna to attack it. They contain an incredible diversity of microscopic bacteria, fungi, viruses and other organisms.In healthy soils, organic matter is protected from decomposition inside clumps of soil called aggregates.

Over just the last several decades, we may have lost about half of the topsoil that natural processes produced over thousands of years in the US corn belt. Soil organic matter is critically important: It helps soils hold onto water and nutrients and supports soil microbes that recycle nutrients.For example, General Mills is working with the Nature Conservancy and the Soil Health Institute to encourage farming practices that begin to rebuild soils. While plants are the original source of carbon for soils, microbes control its fate by using it as food, thus ensuring that at least some of it will remain in the soil. A single handful of soil can contain tens of thousands of different species. Instead of leaving fields barren in between crops, which leads to erosion, farmers are increasingly planting cover crops such as rye grass, oats and alfalfa. Others are slow-growing but hardy, waste little and are able to survive times of starvation or stress. I was part of a research team that demonstrated in a 2015 study that adding efficient microbes to soils can enhance the percentage of plant carbon that is transformed into soil. But new research suggests that it may be insufficient.

These microbes interact closely with each other, forming complex networks.Soil organic matter contains over 50 per cent carbon.This view suggested that the key to building soils was getting a lot of dead plant material into the ground.The first step to improving soil health is to stop the bleeding. Loss of soil organic matter has made many farms increasingly reliant on fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.When microbes break plant matter down, they use some of the material they consume for building new biomass — that is, to fuel their own growth — and exhale the rest as carbon dioxide.Over time, we thought that these plant particles became chemically transformed into what was called humus — dark, long-lasting material left over when dead plants and animals decay. Natural soils are thriving with life.It takes a village to make healthy soil.By ploughing and overtilling, we have increased erosion on agricultural fields by 10 to 100 times natural rates.

The vast majority of old soil carbon appears to have undergone microbial decomposition. Unlike cash crops that are harvested and removed from the soil, cover crops are left to decompose and contribute to soil formation.What many think of as “just dirt” is actually an incredibly complex mixture of rock-derived minerals, plant-derived organic matter, dissolved nutrients, gases and a rich food web of interacting organisms. We are also researching which crop traits support microbiomes that help enhance soil health.In addition to protecting soil, cover crops take carbon out of the atmosphere as they grow and funnel it into the soil.Without a healthy microbial community, nutrients are no longer recycled, opportunistic pests can invade and farmers rely increasingly on chemicals to replace biological soil functions.

Recently, however, technological advances have transformed our understanding of soil formation.Topsoil is rich in soil organic matter — dark spongy material formed from decomposed plant and animal tissue.Microbes can take a simple compound like sugar and transform it into the thousands of complex molecules found in soils.Soil degradation is a critical problem because it threatens our ability to produce enough healthy food for a growing human population and contributes to climate change