Our Indispensable Soil - Soil: Reflections on the Basis of our Existence - page 20

be intensively sprayed with pesticides, using chemicals long banned in Sweden.
The pesticides make farmers ill and the land also suffers from such an intensive,
monotonous form of agriculture. Yet there is hope in Brazil, where organic farm-
ing has become established in the southern part of the country and is gradually
gaining ground. Trials in agroforestry—mixing silviculture with annual crops—
have proved successful. In agroforestry, the ground is never left bare and because
a wide variety of different trees and crops can be grown, diseases take longer
to spread, which means farmers can use fewer pesticides than in monocultures.
Growing trees alongside other crops is a method that has come farthest in per-
maculture, which is not only an agricultural technique but an entire philosophy.
Permaculture developed in Australia in the 1970s and has since spread worldwide.
When I was young I worked as a volunteer at Skillebyholm Farm near J￤rna
in central Sweden. The farm held courses in biodynamic agriculture and I met
many enthusiastic farmers from all across Europe. Biodynamic agriculture dif-
fers from organic farming as it treats the farm as a closed loop that is replen-
ished with manure from farm animals, which means livestock are always part of
a biodynamic farm. Like organic farming, biodynamic agriculture avoids arti-
ficial fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides. It also features some anthroposophi-
cal ideas, regarding cosmic radiation as a special life source and suggesting that
cosmic energy can be harnessed in biodynamic products made in special condi-
tions. I have myself helped to dig up cow horns filled with fertiliser under the
light of a full moon to prepare substances to stimulate the composting process.
Anthroposophical theory also holds that the soil should sometimes be left bare to
enable cosmic radiation to have full effect. But in my opinion, vegetation is a skin
that shields the soil from wind and rain. If we have to till the soil, we should sow
seeds as soon as possible or cover it with organic matter. In the next chapter we
will discover that it takes a long time for new soil to form under natural condi-
tions, but that we can speed the process up by adding organic matter to areas suf-
fering from landslides or desertification. We would be able to stop erosion if we
added sufficient organic matter to raise soil humus content.
Further Readings
Brady NC, Weil WR (2008) The nature and properties of soils. Prentice Hall, New Jersey
Hyams E (1952) Soil and civilization. Thames and Hudson, London
Lundberg J, Moberg F (2009) Ekologiskt i Brasilien. Deltagardriven certifiering och lokal handel
för ett h￥llbart lantbruk. Naturskyddsföreningen
Mann CC (2008) Our good earth. The future rest of the soil beneath our feet. National
Geographic, Sept 2008
Mollison B (1991) Introduction to permaculture. Tagari Publications, Australia
M￤der P et al (2002) Soil fertility and biodiversity in organic farming. Science 296:1694-1697
Ritz K, Young I (2004) Interactions between soil structure and fungi. The Mycologist 18:52-59