Soil Health

We’ve decided to change the format for our newsletters for a while, and address questions from the field. I already do this indirectly: Many times these questions inspire me to conduct additional research and the information will then find its way into a newsletter. Fielding questions from growers is about as good as it gets for me, and I encourage all of you to send yours my way. We like to solve problems! If we get related questions, we’ll try to group them into a themed response.

I’m an organic almond grower and I’m looking for more nitrogen options. What do you recommend?

Organic fertilizers also help foster a healthy environment for beneficial microbes in the soil. Organic fertilizers typically contain smaller amounts of N-P-K than synthetic fertilizers they’re more beneficial to plants because they are taken up slowly as needed where synthetic fertilizers are quickly consumed.

In addition, organic nitrogen sources feed the soil biology while synthetic materials kill the biology and drive out other contributors to good soil like earthworms or nature’s fertilizer producing machines. While plants react to synthetic nitrogen, it breaks down the organic matter faster than plant residue and the dead microbes that go through cycles of bloom, can replace it.

I posted this newsletter back in November and doing it again given the drought conditions we’re likely facing this growing season. Almost 16 million California residents are living in drought conditions. Thankfully, a smart solution had entered the market to help growers reduce water usage yet still be able to move nutrients through the soils for crop access. Andaman Ag sells AquaVantage, a bio-degradable, starch-based polymer that’s used as a soil amendment, capable of absorbing up to 500 times its weight in water to store and gradually release it to crops. The result: crops require 30-40% less water, given the water holding capacity! We believe it’s a breakthrough product that can have a major role in mitigating drought conditions. It lasts the entire season keeping water where it needs to be from early season or planting/seedlings through harvest or post-harvest.

Growers are facing increased regulation, especially when it comes to the application of nitrogen. Nitrogen takes a lot of energy to produce, has negative environmental impacts and is expensive. As a result, there’s a growing interest in reducing fertilizer use — because YOU CAN. If farms can start paying more attention to biological nitrogen fixation for crop production, they can realize comparable yields with less input.

My alma mater, Colorado State University, is offering students a degree in Agricultural Biology. As an Agricultural Biology student, you can learn to integrate skills and knowledge to solve problems related to plants, insects, and microbes in natural and managed ecosystems. That’s quite a transformation from the days I was there.

Andaman Ag believes that our broad array of biological products can make a significant difference in terms of delivering improved crop yields, quality and ROI for both organic and conventional growers. With agricultural crop prices down and the pipeline to move large quantities of harvested crops limited due to Covid-19, quality harvests are going to be crucial.

Biological farming is based on scientific principles and common sense. At its core is the principle that microbes are the basis of all agricultural production systems. Biological farming seeks to restore to the soil the naturally occurring beneficial micro-organisms and macro-organisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and earthworms. It creates a sustainable soil management system, enhancing the availability of nutrients and complementing the plant’s own defense systems.

We are all carbon-based life forms. The atoms in our bodies were once part of the carbon dioxide in the air. This process of “carbon fixation” is how most new organic matter is created. These same carbon atoms are in our bodies and other life forms from a process known as the Calvin cycle. The sugars created in the Calvin cycle are also used by plants for long-term energy storage. For quick energy, we rely on adenosine triphosphate (ATP)., the energy-carrying molecule found in the cells of all living things. When energy is needed by the cell, it is converted from storage molecules into ATP. ATP then serves as a shuttle, delivering energy to places within the cell where energy-consuming activities are taking place. The Calvin cycle takes molecules of carbon straight out of the air and turns them into plant matter. It’s called the second stage of photosynthesis because this is where sugars are synthesized but the reactions are not driven by light. Andaman Ag has a product that augments this process.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

One of my favorite writer/poets is Rudyard Kipling. He was born in India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling may be most known for writing the Jungle Book (1894). One poem of Mr. Kipling that I never get tired of reading is the wisdom in How to Be A Man. It was a man’s world back then so I’ve taken the liberty of revising the title. I hope it inspires you in the New Year to hold on, take life as it comes and find success and reward in everything you endeavor.

Rudyard Kipling: How To Be A Man (or Woman)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Fungi and agriculture are natural partners. Fungi were some of the first complex life forms on land, mining rocks for mineral nourishment, slowly turning them into what would become soil. In the Late Ordovician era, or about 480 million years ago, they formed a symbiotic relationship with liverworts, the earliest plants. Fungi in your soil profile means greater mineralization of and access to nutrients for your crop, as well as broader access to water.

Aluminum is one of the most abundant elements on the planet, making up roughly 7% of the Earth’s mass. Aluminum toxicity in our soils is a real problem. Large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers have been applied to our fields, leading to increased soil acidification and potential Al toxicity. Aluminum toxicity occurs in strongly acid soils, plants may also exhibit deficiency symptoms of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), or other nutrients. They might also show symptoms of manganese (Mn) toxicity, which is common when the soil pH is too low. When we experience these soil nutrient imbalances, soil acidification exacerbates the accumulations of toxic aluminum ions.