excerpted from an interview with Future Directions International

FDI: Why do we need to investigate and discuss these relationships?

The productivity of natural vegetation, particularly on old leached soils, is fundamentally dependant on a range of microbial symbioses between mycorrhizal fungi and the roots of plants. This enables flora to access limited essential nutrients from soils to sustain their productivity, diversity and resilience. Through years of industrial farming and fertilizer overuse we have impaired these symbioses and, with that, the ability of plants to sustain their nutrition and productivity.

Only by restoring these symbioses, specifically the mycorrhizal fungi that govern much of the availability of essential nutrients from soils, can we regenerate degraded agricultural soils and landscapes. Leading farmers are refining practical approaches to do this to improve yields, root growth, carbon and moisture retention and the nutritional integrity of their crops. These outcomes are being achieved without the need for expensive fertilizer inputs. The extension of such approaches through farmer groups will be critical to the regeneration of agricultural soils and landscapes and their capacity to produce food with nutritional integrity.
[Read more…] about The Role of Mycorrhizal Fungi in Regenerating Healthy Soils and Agricultural Productivity

Bokashi is a traditional agroecological technique first developed in East Asia and now utilized extensively across Asia and Latin America. Like compost, bokashi is the product of microbial breakdown of organic matter from waste. The main components of bokashi include manure, soil, and carbon-rich agricultural byproducts, such as rice hulls and bran. Unlike compost, bokashi processing makes use of anaerobic microbial processes, in addition to those that are aerobic. These partially anaerobic conditions coupled with energy-rich organic matter allow for the accelerated breakdown of organic matter in bokashi. While composting often requires extended maturation times, frequent aeration and hydration, and large spaces, bokashi matures in approximately two weeks and is made in smaller piles for simpler management. The maturation stage of bokashi fosters beneficial microbial growth, breaks down nutrients to bioaccessible forms, and processes materials so that they no longer attract pests

Several studies support the benefits of bokashi on soil fertility and plant growth, including my own research on the efficacy and nutrient composition of different types of bokashi. In line with other studies, I have observed heightened crop growth of cucumber and kale plants and I have quantified increased amounts of ammonium—a plant-available form of nitrogen—over the bokashi maturation process (Figure 1). Moreover, I experimented with different ingredients and found no significant differences in bokashi quality made with variable starting ingredients. These findings reaffirm not only bokashi’s prowess and sustainability as a fertilizer that diverts waste streams, but also its flexibility as a product. In other words, bokashi can be made from a variety of ingredients that may be adapted to what is available and accessible, without compromising its efficacy as a fertilizer.
[Read more…] about How to Make Bokashi, a Nutrient-rich Fertilizer

Approximately 95% of the world’s plant species form mycorrhiza and require the association for maximum performance in the field.

Endomycorrhizae
Endomycorrhizae—also referred to as Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM)—symbiotically associate with about 90% of the plant kingdom. Their origins date back 350–460 million years and were important in the colonization of land by vascular plants. Endomycorrhizae form an intercellular attachment by penetrating the cell wall of plant roots and forming branched structures called arbuscules within the root cells. These arbuscules provide an extensive surface area for the exchange of nutrients through the cell membrane. Mycelia from endomycorrhizae extend from the plant roots into the surrounding soil, gathering nutrients and water bringing them back to the plant’s roots.
[Read more…] about Mycorrhizae-Compatible Plants

Dr. Kris Nichols, previously at Rodale, is principal of KRIS (Knowledge for Regeneration and Innovation in Soil) Systems, an education and consulting company focused on regenerating soil as a foundation to an agrosystems approach toward resilience. It is devoted to healthy crops, food, animals, and a vital planet.

Everyone has heard the Hippocrates quote: ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.’ Most people nod sagely at such advice, as if it reflects some inner wisdom. Did we not, after all, evolve eating simple foods from nature and did we not have adequate eons to adapt our metabolisms to natural food — incorporating the means of creating key nutrients that were not available to us in our food (humans synthesize 11 of the 20 standard amino acids and get the rest in our foods), and losing the capability of creating others because they were so prevalent in our foods (our human ancestors lost the ability to synthesize Vitamin C, as can dogs and cats, because — so theorizes Linus Pauling –we outlived the need to do so by spending tens of thousands of years eating Vitamin C-rich fruits in trees, before being driven by drought to make a new living on the now treeless African veldt.)
[Read more…] about Crop Tillage, Microbes, and Their Impact on Human Health

Figure 1: an electron micrograph of a mycorrhiza on an evergreen seedling. Mycorrhizal filaments radiate into the soil from the mycorrhiza root tip. Estimates of amounts of mycorrhizal filaments present in healthy soil are astonishing. Several miles of filaments can be present in less than a thimbleful of soil associated with vigorously growing plants. The relationship is beneficial because the plant enjoys improved nutrient and water uptake, disease resistance and superior survival and growth.

Little things run the world. This is especially true when it comes to getting plants established. Under natural conditions plants live in close association with soil organisms called mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi colonize plant roots and extend the root system into the surrounding soil.

Nearly all commercially produced plants form mycorrhizae and require the association for maximum performance in out-planted environments.

Depending on the environment in which they are growing, plants may divert up to 80% or more of the net energy fixed as sunlight to below-ground processes. Some of this energy goes into root growth; but a high proportion may be used to feed mycorrhizal fungi and other soil organisms. This is not energy that is lost to the plant. On the contrary, soil organisms living in the root zone greatly influence the ability of plants to establish through effects on nutrient cycling, pathogens, soil aeration, and soil water uptake. Of the various soil organisms that benefit plant establishment, the most is known about mycorrhizal fungi. Roughly 90% of plant species are thought to form mycorrhizae: the combination of fungal and root tissue is called the mycorrhiza and the fungal partner is termed a mycorrhizal fungus. (A list of common plant species and their compatibility with mycorrhizal fungi follows this article.)
[Read more…] about The Role of Fungi in Plant Establishment and Growth

transcribed and edited by Jack Kittredge and Didi Pershouse, from a talk on May 12, 2018

Pedogenesis

How did nature create Earth’s biologial system? To find out, we just go back into nature and look at all of the evidence, which is very clear. And the answer is all about pedogenesis, which means soil formation.

The Earth is basically made of “stardust.” Four and a half billion years ago, you had a supernova exploding. That dust condensed down, drawn by its own gravity, and formed into rock: our planet, with 96 natural elements that we can see on the periodic table. About 3.8 billion years ago, the first living cell arrived, probably activated by chemical and heat energy. Then 3.5 billion years ago, we think, that photosynthesis evolved. It came to life in organisms in the oceans at first, but was limited by the meager availability of nutrients dissolved in water and the more diffuse sunlight reaching life there.
[Read more…] about Pedogenesis, Soil Cathedrals, Living Membranes and Industrial Hydroponics

Last fall Julie and I were lucky enough to host David Johnson and his wife Hui-Chan Su Johnson overnight when David was in the area for a speaking engagement. He explained to us his remarkable success growing crops in New Mexico using a fungal compost or inoculant of his own devising. The key to making it is to aerate the compost without turning it, since turning destroys the fungal hyphae. His process allows the fungi to grow undisturbed throughout the compost so that, when it is done, it can be spread thinly on soil with every portion inoculating the soil with viable fungal life.

This spring we used David’s plans (slightly revised) to make a fungal reactor. After David’s descriptions of his process, I have added some notes and pictures of our modifications.
[Read more…] about Making Fungal Compost

Now that you have read David’s description, you might be interested in our adaptation of the idea to New England.

First, we decided to build our composter in a hoophouse, to extend the season of fungal activity. This entailed modifications to the pipes so that they could be withdrawn inside a structure that was not twice as tall as the reactor.

Second, we determined to irrigate the reactor daily by hand, rather than by a drip system, since we did not have a frost-free water supply to the hoophouse yet wanted to reactor to be functional in early spring and late fall.

The following pictures show our construction progress.

[Read more…] about The Many Hands Organic Farm Composter

reprinted with permission from Mycorrhizal Planet

Compost is not “any ol’ heap of organic matter” when you have biological perspective.

Bacterial compost results from a thermal process featuring a higher nitrogen charge and several turnings of the pile to aerate the microbe scene. Both of these actions rouse bacteria into action. The thermophilic phase in particular gets the pile cooking, thereby cleaning house of potential pathogens and weed seeds. The whole process generally takes six to ten weeks from start to finish. Commercial compost operations make this sort of “garden compost” for certified organic growers (adhering to federal restrictions) and home gardeners purchasing compost by the bag.
[Read more…] about Fungal Compost Pointers

photo by Jack Kittredge
The Freedom Food Farm’s store is open 32 hours per week.

Raynham, a town of some 13,000 people, was originally part of what is now the City of Taunton in Southeastern Massachusetts, settled as early as 1639 by Elizabeth Pole, the first woman to found a town in America. Three years earlier Roger Williams had fled to that area in a January blizzard to escape a conviction for sedition and heresy in Salem. Williams had earned the enmity of many English settlers for his beliefs in paying the Native Americans for their land and opposing slavery. The Wampanoag Sachem Massasoit hosted and protected the fugitive Williams for three months until Spring came. The Sachem’s son, Metacom, in 1675 agreed to spare Raynham from destruction in King Philip’s War in return for the local iron forge maintaining his troops’ weapons.

In 1731 the eastern end of Taunton was incorporated as Raynham, where folks abandoned efforts to affect history and settled down to building ship hulls which were floated down the Taunton River to Fall River and Narragansett Bay for final fitting, as well as some small manufacturing and farming the sandy loam soil. Closeness to Boston (32 miles) and Providence (22 miles) has slowly increased land values there as city workers seek to live in nearby bedroom suburbs. These increasing land values are part of the problem for Chuck Currie and Marie Kaziunas at Freedom Food Farm.
[Read more…] about Fungal Friendly Farming at Freedom Food Farm

Over the course of two sunny days in Seattle, 14 sustainable agriculture organizations convened a strategy meeting to advance healthy soil legislation. We gathered as farmers, farmer-based organizations and advocates working in more than 20 states and nationwide to explore pathways at the forefront of healthy soils advocacy.

The meeting was the culmination of more than eight months of webinars and resource sharing building upon a burgeoning interest nationwide in the potential of agricultural soil health to mitigate climate change, enhance on-farm resilience to extreme weather and drought, and improve water and air quality.
[Read more…] about Sustainable Farming Leaders Strategize for Healthy Soils Across the Nation

William Norton Duesing, known to all as Bill, died at 75 on July 12, 2018 at the Connecticut Hospice in Branford, Connecticut. Bill was born on August 19, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan and was predeceased by his parents, Howard Ernest Duesing and Charlotte Morehouse Duesing.

Bill is survived by his wife, Suzanne Mann Skorpen Duesing and his children: Daniel Ethan Duesing and his wife, Kassie Murphy of Simsbury, Connecticut and Kira Suzanne Skorpen Spinner and her husband James of Middlebury, Connecticut. He will be sorely missed by his six grandchildren: Nicholas, Brian and Charlie Spinner and Zoe, Charlotte and Kingston Duesing.

He also leaves his sister Alice Duesing Sloan and her husband Paul of Alvin, Texas and their children and grandchildren, as well as his brother John Duesing and his wife Pam Clark of West Des Moines, Iowa.
[Read more…] about In Memory of William Norton Duesing, 1942 to 2018

Samuel Kayman and Gary Hirshberg in the old days

Hi Jack,

Congratulations on another fact-filled and informative issue. You did a great job of putting together material from before your time in NOFA. But I wanted to alert you to one rather grievous error in the photos…you erroneously identified a photo of Jack Cook “outstanding in his field” as Samuel Kaymen! I did a Google images search, and sure enough, UMass archive also has it incorrectly identified. I just sent them a note, and had previously given them complete captions on all my photos, which seem to have been lost.

As for the rest of the issue, I do have to raise a couple of concerns:
[Read more…] about Letters to the Editor