Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
physiological changes that can take place in plants, described in
Chapter 10
. In summary,
there can be a significant reduction in water losses due to:
• Increased strength of cell walls
• Increased flexibility of cell walls
• Reduced ion leakage effects
• Expression of genetic traits that combat osmotic-stress
• Enzymatic changes affecting transpiration
• Better ability to grow deeper roots
As such, electroculture can be a huge help for crops growing under low-water drought
conditions, helping millions, even under adverse and rapidly changing environmental
conditions.
Accelerated Cleanup of Contaminated Soils
While dealing with adverse weather conditions is a place where electroculture hold
enormous benefit, a lesser-known area that's also important, especially regarding the
long-term effects of growing food outside, is dealing with growing land contaminated with
toxic chemicals.
Whatlandisconsideredcontaminated?Certainlythereare“
brownfield
”
sitesthatlooklike
toxic wastelands… But I'm not growing food there. Are you sure this topic is relevant to
me, the average grower?
Absolutely… Let me tell you how. In my own case, I first became interested in this topic
after moving into a new house with my wife a bunch of years ago. While clearing away
a huge swath of ground in the back yard with the intention of creating a food garden,
underneath the years of neglect and the piles of vines and weeds I found all sorts of
interesting modernartifacts. Ifoundoldcarpartsandpiecesofmotors,lotsofbrokenglass
and old pieces of wiring and piping.
While I didn't know what the use of this piece of land was 50 or more years ago, I do
know that seeing this stuff in the soil made me feel a little nervous. Ultimately it became
thecauseofmypiquedinterestinatopiccalled
remediation
,
orthescienceofcleaningsoil
from modern pollutants.
So, what is someone who comes across this particular problem supposed to do? The
approach that government agencies take is to typically remove all of the contaminated dirt
to a certain depth earth using earth movers and dump trucks. The soil is then replaced with
