Soil Microbes and Animal Immune System: Invisible Allies
In the Summer 2020, Volume 33, Issue 3 edition of The Growers Solution, Growers Mineral, Corр. discusses how the arrival of the Novel Corona Virus Disease known as COVID-19 has changed the world's perspective on the science of microbiology. Although some individuals chose to ignore the existence and/or the importance of the microscopic world, the tragedy of human loss of life has permeated the lives of an extraordinary number of families. The attention the invisible corona virus has received in recent months has created an atmosphere in which the understanding of a microscopic world is much better perceived and understood. Since 1955, Growers Mineral Ltd. has tried to convince agricultural producers that the "unit in, unit out" philosophy of fertilization could be changed by enlisting the life force present in the soil. The discussion about soil microbiological life was always difficult because of the microscopic nature of the subject. It always led to the comment of not being able to grow a decent crop with that "small amount of fertilizer." So, can microscopic forces which have created a "new normal" on the entire earth be used to alter the agricultural fertilizer approach?
After the economic collapse of the United States economy in 2008, which led to severe fertilizer price problems in 2009 that then stabilized in 2010, Growers Mineral, Corp. started discussing in detail how to work with the soil's microscopic forces using GMS and/or the Growers Program. In the Late Fall 2010, Volume 23 Issue 5, edition of The Growers Solution, we explained how the soil microbes could be enlisted so as to help the farmer economically and environmentally. However, the microscopic nature of the subject of discussion made the ideas very difficult for many to understand. During the past 10 years, several events have made this conversation much easier to pursue.
The wide acceptance of the use of soil cover crops to feed the soil microbiological life is indicative of a changing mindset. The other practice drawing attention in the last 10 years is the use of immunotherapy in the long battle with the systemic disease of cancer. Also, the recent pandemic from the corona virus has reminded us of the importance of vaccines for the control of microbes that were responsible for old problems such as polio.
We now feel it is easier to open the fertilizer reduction discussion because the topic of microscopic life is much more visible. Even the research projects that we conduct use methods that are quite common in this new day of viral control. For example, in our research project, a native sod crop's soil was swabbed for the soil's microbiological life. These microbes were then placed on a growth media and exposed to differing types of fertilizer to see how they would react to the various fertilizer types (see Photograph B below). Our early discussion about this project seemed to fall on deaf ears after initial swabbing discussion, but now absolutely everyone is quite familiar with the swabbing of the human species in search of the microscopic virus responsible for COVID-19.
A quick summary of that 10 year-old article from The Growers Solution: When the proper microbiological population balance is achieved in the soil, the amount of added fertilizer needed to achieve economic success can be reduced quite significantly. This approach also allows the user to achieve significant environmental success. For details, please contact a GMS sales representative.
This is an excerpt from the Late Fall Growers Solution (2020) written by Jim Halbeisen.
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