wurde oft klar gemacht, wie wichtig #bio ist (weil dort zB kein Tierfutter aus #brasilien; oder zB das Problem mit den Pestiziden & der Überdüngung(dust bowl))
etwas zu wenig #vegan für meinen Geschmack, auch wenn die Milchwirtschaft kritisiert wurde (Kühe in Saudi-Arabien?!?!)
es wurde sich dem falschen Narrativ bedient, dass die Grüne Revolution uns alle aus der Armut geholt hat - es wird verschwiegen, dass es auch damals schon Alternativen gab (siehe Arte Erdzerstörer!)
andere Flächenverbraucher? (Autos, Golfen, Wein, ...)
A few more photos from our final day touring Alberta to study soil health. We spent the morning at the Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, learning about smart farming and precision agriculture. Then we visited rancher Doug Wray, near Irricana, who is at the “bleeding edge” of regenerative ag innovation in Alberta. #SenateofCanada#AGFO#Calgary#Alberta#soil#soilhealth#regenerativeagriculture#OldsCollege
Allow me to share a few photos from our Senate agriculture committee tour of southern Alberta today. This morning, we visited the South Porcupine Ranch near Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, and Kevin Auch’s dry land pulse farm near Carmengay, to learn about their regenerative farming practices. What a privilege. #SenateofCanada#AGFO#Alberta#cdnpoli#soil#SoilHealth#regenerativeagriculture
“We are seeing some great results in vineyards in regenerative viticulture & all the places where we are using biochar & cover crops. In these places, instead of losing 60% of the crop [due to desiccation], we are seeing maybe a 25-30% reduction [in yields], & we see fresh grapes & bigger berries."
#RegenerativeAgriculture should be one of the highest priorities right now. It's win-win all around. Sequesters a LOT of carbon while significantly mitigating the effects of climate change on food production.
“But most people think that you must till during a heatwave to get water to the vine.”
... but Casteel’s Bethel Heights no-till cover crop soils were 60 degrees cooler than those at the estate next door, who, she recorded, “had ploughed just before the heatwave.”
Lovely to have some sunshine and spend a little time at the plot. It’s all growing well, needs weeding but harvesting is the biggest job to do at the moment. Loads of veg to pick.
No pesticides, herbicides, insecticides or artificial fertilisers in use here and no bare soil to be seen. Every patch of ground is covered in mulch, home made compost and plant growth, the more diversity the better.
They are harvested from volunteer plants that pop up in the weeds growing in our pig pasture plantings. We carefully seed our pig's slops with our favorite rustic local varieties, some of which have been developed here on our farm.
Every week we harvest pots and pots from seed that our pigs worked into the soil. How awesome is that?
The EU this week introduced a soil law aimed to improve soil quality and sequester more carbon. 🌲 Definitely doesn't go far enough, but this is an exciting first step.
The legislation focusses on setting out a ‘definition of soil health’ as well as a ‘framework for soil health monitoring’.
The initial ambition was to give soil a protected status similar to that of air or water, but that didn't happen.
Large #food companies are pushing #RegenerativeAgriculture programs.
"But the uptake among #farmers is still small given the sheer vastness of global farmland.
Government and private commitments toward regenerative practices and #soil health will exceed 40 million hectares by 2030, about 4% of the total crop and pasture acreage of the US, Canada, EU, Australia and New Zealand"
I’ve never seen this before. Six field bean pods growing on the same node at the very top of the plant. Maybe this is a sign of what plants can do when the soil biology is in good health and the plants receive the nutrients they need?
Long way to go yet. These pods were too heavy for the plant causing the stem to bend so it’s not perfect but it gives me hope. Imagine being able to multiply the crop two or three fold from each plant?
All by feeding the soil biology with living roots in the ground as long as possible, no till, using winter cover crops, having no bare soil, using biological compost extracts, feeding the soil biology and plants with natural amendments. Oh and keeping the muntjac out with a fence. Better luck next year muntjac!
I have tremendous respect for the fact that Japanese Natural Farming schools are zero tuition (and there's like 40 of them). it's very disappointing to me how #regenerativeAgriculture figureheads like Elaine Ingham and Matt Powers run these piramidey schemes of inaccessible courses and certification levels, reproducing the scam of American education, like it directly contradictions your message, if you think the knowledge of biology-friendly food production is the revolution that will save the world, shouldn't you be spreading it everywhere to the four winds like dandelion seeds? dunno if you noticed but it's kind of a mass extinction event outside??
like once you maim your movement with the smell of profit you let the logic of productivism seep into everything. it is heartbreaking to see folks from India super enthusiastic on #soilFoodWeb videos about the results they're getting, while at the same time apologetic about being unable to afford the three thousand fucking dollars the online course costs.
it wouldn't bother me if I thought it was all a scam but the worst part is that it's legit, all peer-reviewed stuff verified in the lab and in real farms and that I can verify with my own girly eyes in my own garden. one day I'm going to gather funds and ace all these courses and liberate all the knowledge in free easy-to-digest anarchist zines so we can print a bunch and spread them around for the apocalypse. come on plant queers, hoist the black with me towards the glorious #solarpunk future 🌱🏴☠️
@compost The worm castings have been harvested and the worms are now back in their spring home in the shed with some new feed and bedding. The worms were looking healthy with plenty of youngsters and cocoons.
The IMO#3 all mixed with soil and compost and laid over a bed of the allotment. After being covered in a layer of dried hay it was also covered by cloches to protect it a little more from the rain and attention from curious animals.
Hopefully 🤞 by next weekend it will covered in white fuzz & I’ll have made my first IMO#4. It will also have inoculated the bed it’s on prior to that being planted up or sown.
IMO#4 is a living soil amendment containing a broad spectrum of minerals and diverse local biology. I’ll store this in containers and it has a variety of uses.
I’ll add it in small quantities before I add any compost or mulch to the soil. It can be added to beds prior to seeding or planting or added to inoculate a compost pile. It can also be applied as foliar feed or soil drench.
This is what the finished IMO#4 looked like (left pic) when I peeled back the hay mulch layer. A nice fungal covering on the soil. It is now being stored in three old dustbins for regular use as and when around the plot.
I’ll transplant climbing beans up the bamboo poles into both the inoculated IMO#4 bed and into the bed next door for comparison. I’ll also sow other veg in both beds also for comparison.
Both beds were covered in a leaf litter mulch after I took the photos to protect, cover and feed the microbes and soil/compost in the meantime until the beds can be planted up.
Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO) are captured & cultured by burying a box of cooked rice in the ground surrounded by leaf litter and fungal matter. White fuzz forms on the rice , this is IMO#1, add this to brown sugar and ferment it & you have a refrigerator stable IMO#2.
I added a tablespoon of IMO#2 to approx each 15 L of rainwater and mixed into bran until I had the right moisture level (i.e. when I squeezed the bran in my hand I had one or two drips of water between my fingers).
I used 35 kgs of bran. This should now heat up to 40°-50°C, will need turning to avoid going hotter. In a week this should be covered in white fuzz (IMO#3). 🤞
I’ll then add equal quantity of soil to the bran and again this should grow a white fuzz in a week. This will be IMO#4 and the end of the process. This can be stored and used as a biologically rich soil amendment.
Peeling back the layer of hay there are small strands of white fuzz appearing on the surface of the bran inoculated with IMO#2. It’s not heated up as high or as fast as I was expecting but it was up to 25°C this morning after unexpected overnight rain and a low outside temperature of 5°C.
This photo was taken earlier this morning with an outdoor temperature of 2°C. I’ve no idea for how long or how much more heat the pile will build to but the indigenous microorganisms are doing their thing and feeding off the bran. The pile felt very toasty on a chilly spring morning.
That’s the IMO#3. Nine days in the temperature is now falling below 40°C it’s maintained a high enough (I hope) heat and I’ve just peeled back the hay outer layer for a peek and look at all that white fuzz!
Today has to be IMO#4 making day. It’s the only chance I have in the coming days to do so. I’ll take it all up to the allotment this morning and mix it with an equal quantity of soil and compost, adding litres of rainwater and some FPJ, humic acid, basalt & gypsum, crushed eggshell, brown rice vinegar, vermicast, dried kelp and anything else rich in biology I have to hand.