Spiritual Aspects of Sustainable Soil Management - Principles of Sustainable Soil Management in Agroecosystems - page 274

original farm in Virginia, USA, was heavily eroded, with many areas of eroded
rock, making the surface appear like pockmarked skin. By applying compost, rotat-
ing cattle, and running poultry, these sores developed scabs of soil and healed as
the soil reformed over a 50-year period. Enough soil was created to refill many
gullies. Polyface farming stimulates soil biology and carbon sequestration by using
composting and the rearing of animals and poultry together on perennial pastures
of mixed herbage. Plants and animals are allowed habitats that suit their physiol-
ogy in systems with emphasis on biomimicry. Salatin aims to develop economically
viable agricultural enterprises with emphasis on healing of the land, the food, the
economy, and the culture. I see these systems as engaging and continually renewing
the spirit within the farmer, though Salatin cheerfully calls himself a lunatic farmer!
Nevertheless, he describes his spirit soaring as he steps out into the “fresh-scented
morning air” of his farm. Aiming for beauty and quality allows both sustainability
and productivity.
Application of the biological approaches of organic farming to conventional agri-
culture is likely to become more important as fossil fuel supplies dwindle. A recent
approach proving popular with farmers in their attempts to make the best use of the
amendments applied to soil is precision agriculture. Inputs of fertilizer and lime are
adjusted at the scale of the harvester using crop yield information gathered the previ-
ous year. This is a method of trying to overcome the limitations of the soil's ability
to provide uniform levels of fertility for crop production. Perhaps this should be done
with care in case soil quality is impaired, and, as Patzel (2010) suggests, “negate soil
dignity and autonomy as a living natural body.”
Irrespective of the agricultural type, soil management is central to improv-
ing sustainability and ecosystem services, with emphasis on soil biology and
ecology. Farming needs to conform to the natural laws that govern the local
ecosystem (Berry 2009). Key factors to manage are soil carbon, roots, ecology
of soil organisms, nutrients, nitrous oxide emissions, and erosion (Powlson et al.
2011). These clearly need to be integrated with other novel approaches in agrosci-
ence such as transgenic crops and beneficial microbes (Lichtfouse et al. 2010).
Lichtfouse et al. (2010) warns that we need to include sociology in developing
these sustainably to improve the balance between the triple-P values of people,
planet, and prosperity.
Rains et al. (2011) suggest a redirection of current and emerging technologies
such as in pest management practices, genetic engineering, and precision agriculture
to provide a more ecologically based and sustainable farming approach. This also
needs to include the needs of the world's 900 million small farmers, who are often
hampered by the lack of good-quality seed and by severe soil degradation (Kiers et
al. 2008). They also emphasize that agricultural innovation is not just technological
performance in isolation but is how technology can build knowledge, networks, and
capacity. Lamine (2011) elaborates on this. He states that biological farming can
increase profitability without necessarily reducing yields but that farmers perceive
risks to efficiency. He stresses the importance of farmers belonging to integrated
networks. These are not only professional networks set up by advisors and compa-
nies but also informal networks where farmers advise each other and provide moral