Soil Food Web

Sustainable Agriculture Through Biological Remedies

Soil Food Web Logo The team at SFI NZ is fully committed to assisting growers and farmers to achieve true sustainable soil fertility with a reduction in toxic and costly chemicals. This enables you to improve crop yields and the returns on your investment. You’d be amazed at how cost effective our programs actually are and how beneficial it can be to have a professional on your team to guide you through the processes involved.

We are soil rehabilitation specialists and by utilising our services you will learn how you can manage and maintain a balanced and healthy soil.

Achieving the right biology enhances these key functions:

Disease protection - minimizes the need for pesticides
Nutrient immobilization – reduces leaching
Nutrient availability - optimal forms in the right place at the right time
Decomposition of toxins - removes harmful residues
Root health, root depth, water retention, aerobic conditions in soil and improved soil
structure - less watering needed, lessen your dependence on fertilizers

Benefits of a Healthy Soil Food Web

A healthy soil is a dynamic living system that is teeming with life. Most of the organisms that live in the soil are beneficial micro-organisms such as fungi, bacteria, protozoa, ad nematodes. While seemingly insignificant, they provide a range of important services in the ecology of the soil that promote plant growth and vigour. The collective term for all of these organisms is the 'soil food web'.

The interactions amongst these organisms can provide plants with many of the requirements that they need to survive and flourish. However, soil biology is an aspect that has largely been overlooked with many growers preferring to settle for something delivering a quick short term fix such as harsh chemical fertilisers. The use of chemicals to kill pathogens and pests can also kill the beneficial organisms in grasslands, depleting the soil health.

The result is a sterile environment conducive to further disease and nutrient deficiencies. The quick fix often leads to a grower’s dependency on more and more artificial chemical and fertilisers to maintain his crops as with each application he is killing the natural soil food web. This could be compared to developing a drug dependency and the need to enter rehabilitation to kick the habit.

By utilising our services you will learn how you can manage and maintain the ecology of a balanced and healthy soil. Ultimately if you don’t know what organisms are present in your soil and on your plants’ leaves, then much of your management is being left to chance!

What makes a healthy Soil Foodweb?

A healthy foodweb occurs when:

All the organisms that a plant requires are present and functioning in the ecology of the soil.
Nutrients in the soil are in the proper forms that will enable a plant to take them up.
The correct ratio of fungi to bacteria is present, and that the ratio of predator to prey is present ensuring soil pH, soil structure, and nutrient cycling occur at the correct rates producing the right forms of nutrients the plant requires.

The functions of a healthy foodweb are:

Retention of nutrients so they do not leach or pass off as vapour from the soil. Retaining the natural nutrients means a decrease in the need for fertiliser usage.
Nutrients are cycled into the right forms at the right rates for the plant. The correct ratio of fungi to bacteria is needed for this to happen, as well as a balanced level of natural predator activity.
Building the soil structure, so that the oxygen, water and other nutrients can easily absorb into the soil thus enabling plants to develop a deep, well-structured root system. When the biology is functioning properly, water use is reduced, the need for fertilizers is reduced, and plant growth is increased.
Suppression of disease-causing organisms via competition with beneficials, by setting up the soil and foliar conditions so as to assist the beneficials as opposed to diseases.
Protection of plant surfaces, above or below ground, This is achieved by making certain the foods created by the plant surfaces release into the soil and are used by beneficial, not disease organisms, thereby ensuring that infection sites on plant surfaces are occupied by beneficial, and not disease-causing organisms. This also ensures that the certain predators that prefer disease-causing organisms are present to consume them.
Production of plant-growth-promoting hormones and chemicals that assist in plants developing larger stronger root systems.
Control of toxic compounds through the breakdown or decay of these organic materials.

Repairing the Soil Food Web

So many of the practices we have adopted in modern agriculture production have actually damaged the natural processes present within a heralthy soil food web by destroying these beneficial organisms that are found in the soil and on plant surfaces. Originally, the goal was to destroy specific pathogen and pest organisms through the use of toxic chemicals but in doing so we have also destroyed the beneficial, protective organisms in the soil biology that existed. Over time, disease-causing organisms have developed immunities to these over-used chemicals and now thrive, continuing to infect crops but in greater numbers. It is not surprising that pests and diseases are now almost impossible to control after 30 to 50 years of chemical warfare has been waged against the beneficial organisms in the soil ecology and thereby upsetting nature’s balance.

How do you fix the problem?

Your first step is to contact the friendly staff at the Soil Foodweb International who can tailor a program to help rehabilitate your soil biology and set things right. SFI NZ is the soil rehab specialist helping farmers and growers to get the right biological balance back in their soil. We are fully committed to helping you achieve true sustainable soil fertility with a substantual reduction in toxic and costly chemicals.

The Solution

Since our inception, we have worked with thousands of growers throughout New Zealand in rural and country communities to improve the health and productivity of their soils. We assess soil, compost, compost tea, leaf, vermicast and various other biological products for micro-organisms (fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and mycorrhizal fungi).

With this information we are able to devise the right management plans tailored to your specific needs so as to achieve a sustainable, productive and low-input system. The large numbers of NZ samples that have been analysed by our laboratory has enabled us to gain a comprehensive understanding of micro-organism balance and function specific to the wide range of crops, soils and climates that are within New Zealand.

Working with many input suppliers and consultants we are able to adapt the farmers existing nutrient program to facilitate a smooth transition from traditional 'mineral only replacement' to biological production. This holistic approach ensures the complete system is revamped; creating healthy soil, crops, stock, and people. The team at SFI is fully committed to assisting growers achieve true sustainable soil fertility drastically minimizing the need for toxic and costly chemicals.

Our goal is to enable you to improve crop & livestock yields and achieve a greater return on your investment.

For more information please visit www.soilfoodweb.co.nz or to book your biological soil test call Cherryle on 0064 3 446 8978 NOW!