Page 54 - ALG Issue 2 2022

South West
Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset
REPRESENTATIVE
Vacant
Contact natsoc@nsalg.org.uk if interested in volunteering with the Region
MENTOR
Allan Cavill
South West 07748178964 allan.cavill2@gmail.com
No Dig – Regenerative
Agriculture for the sake of
our Grandchildren
With age, so they say, comes wisdom. Am I wiser today than I was when I was 20? Well, I definitely hope so! I have read many articles by eminent people over the past few years in an effort to understand what (if anything), I as an allotment gardener can do to reverse the situation regarding climate change. I hope this article will push more serious allotment gardeners towards “No Dig”. Personally, I think that science is proving that it would make a huge difference.
It seems that nothing but bad news abounds about the planet we all inhabit. In fact, there is so much information it can be overwhelming. One thing, however, is certain; society is split. Some live in fear that we have done so much damage that it is already too late to attempt repairs; others that things are so out of control now that it is pointless trying to do anything, and as a result they almost put themselves into a state of paralysis; and many have given up altogether. You may be one of them. That said there is hope, and allotment gardeners can play an important part in repairing some of the damage that has been done.
Anyone in the world who tills the soil (and as allotment gardeners that includes us), has part of the solution beneath their very feet, the soil itself! The sheer quantity of it combined with its unique ability to sequester immense quantities of greenhouse gases, could play a big part in bringing our climate back under control. There is, however, a big but; we must all take better care of our soil, it affects so many things that we all take for granted.
Healthier soils hold more water, they reduce the need for watering and help stop flooding; they produce healthier plants which in turn we eat and not surprisingly that makes us healthier; the animals we breed for meat if fed on healthier grazing crops would be healthier as well. Around the world, scientists have concluded that if we all work towards making our soil healthier, we can fix a lot of our climate change issues.
We all need to start to think in the same way that nature does – it was after all doing a pretty good job for millions of years before we intervened. Does nature spray itself with
chemicals? No! Does nature till its soil every year? No! If we stop adding chemicals, we
will all be better off financially, the soil will
be healthier, the animals we breed for meat will be healthier and as a result we will be healthier. In addition (and this is the big one for allotment gardeners) we need to stop tilling the soil, which over time causes erosion and converts good healthy soil into lifeless dirt.
Soil erosion isn’t something new; it began with the development of the first plough which appeared as long ago as the 6th millennium BC and, by 1,200 BC, late Bronze Age man had huge areas under the plough to grow grain. Over the centuries, areas under cultivation have slowly eroded due to over tilling, and once productive fields have turned to dust.
Iowa in the USA is a good example of what is a happening on a global scale. The topsoil at the start of the 20th century was 14 – 18 inches deep; they called it black gold. By the end of the century there was only 6 – 8 inches left. Storms in 2014 washed away an estimated 14 million tonnes of soil. A study has shown that soil structure levels have degraded, and acidity has increased.
Farmers in the fertile Mid-West Plains of America, sometimes called the most fertile soil on Earth, suffered the effects of erosion over a massive 200 million acres of arable land, resulting in the infamous “dustbowl”. By 1934 the land was left permanently damaged, all due to leaving the soil exposed after every ploughing. This is no different to an allotment gardener getting his spade or rotovator out every spring and turning his plot. With possibly only 60 harvests left in our soil, we need to change our ways.
Going “No Dig” is relatively easy to do and we can all do it to save our precious soil. It is a simple message, but getting that message out there is not easy. Some gardeners will never change regardless of the science provided; there is also an education issue. Until these problems are solved, our ecological issues will remain broken and our planet in danger. The vast majority of big producers neither know nor care how soil works; their eyes are fixed forever on the balance sheet and profits. They
have one goal; the maximum amount of crops for the maximum amount of profit, regardless of the damage done in the process. They don’t care about basic ecological principles, such as carbon being the one element that drives everything. The annoying fact in all of this
is that if they went “No Dig” and let the soil regenerate itself, they would get bigger and better crops and spend nothing on chemicals; result - even more profit!!!!
So, how much damage does tilling the soil
do? The picture on the left shows the carbon dioxide (in red), released into the atmosphere in the spring months in the northern hemisphere, when gardeners and farmers till the soil ready for planting. The picture on the right shows the massive drop in carbon dioxide being released as the crops grow and soak up CO2 during the summer months.
If we all went “No Dig”, imagine how the picture on the left would change.
With more microbes in a handful of healthy soil than there are human beings that have ever lived, we really do need to take more care of this precious resource. If we all switched to “No Dig”, the reduction in tilling would enable these microbes to multiply. When we spray chemicals we kill microbes, when we till the soil we kill microbes, it really is that simple.
There are also the benefits of better crops. We all know that we need to reduce our carbon footprint, but how? With “No Dig” and a healthy soil to plant into, healthier plants pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and turn it into carbon, it’s how they grow. But they also send a large amount to their root systems where it leaks out into the ground and feeds the very micro-organisms that we need to save. In return nutrients are sent back to the plant, making it healthier. Soil that is constantly sprayed or tilled is completely devoid of micro-organisms. The more we spray and till, the weaker the soil gets as the microbes die off; it is a vicious circle but can be reversed.
Instead of understanding how and why nature does what it does, we tend to keep on doing the same thing over and over again. Using
54 Allotment and Leisure Gardener
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