Since the dawn of humanity, the relationship between humankind and the land has been fundamental to our survival and development. Our ancestors depended directly on the earth for food, medicine, and essential materials for daily life.

Through the gathering of wild fruits, roots, and later the development of agriculture, humans learned to identify and value the most fertile soils, understanding that the quality and diversity of nutrients in food depended largely on the richness of the soil where the plants grew.

Soil not only provides physical support for plants, but it is also the primary source of minerals and nutrients essential for human nutrition. The microbial flora present in fertile soils facilitates the absorption and transformation of these nutrients, thus increasing the nutritional density of the food we consume. Throughout history, civilizations that developed techniques to maintain and improve soil quality, such as crop rotation, the use of organic fertilizers, and the conservation of biodiversity, also achieved greater health and prosperity.

Examples of this reality have been evident throughout the world, and without mentioning something distant, there is the case of the national dairy industry, which in an effort to defend itself as an industry not many years ago due to its effects on the release of methane into the atmosphere, managed to measure more precisely the influence of the soil and its microbial population on the amount of protein that the milk could contain.

The relationship was direct when relating the soils in which the forage for the dairy farms was grown, its protein content being a consequence of the variability and quantity of microbial flora, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes.

The same phenomenon occurs with our human health and the relationship that our food maintains with the soil, how it is nourished, how it is irrigated and what we apply to it…

Today, the growing awareness of the importance of soil in the food chain connects us with that ancestral wisdom, reminding us that human health is intrinsically linked to the health of the earth. The nutritional density of the food we consume depends, to a large extent, on the vitality and balance of the soil from which it comes, thus reaffirming the essential bond between humankind and the soil throughout history.

While the above may sound somewhat difficult to verify, today we can measure it periodically or at least a couple of times a year and, according to the results, plan nutritional programs synchronized with that reality, considering not only the typical and traditional units of nutrition (N:P:K and the rest of the macro and micronutrients) but rather the degree of microbial activity in the soil.

A very good way to read what is happening in the soil indirectly is the use of sap analysis, which allows the detection in both xylem and phloem flow of macroelements such as Phosphorus, traces of Silicon, Cobalt and some other elements in minute quantities, but which reveal that there is an active microbial life based on food of high nutritional density.

Knowing the soil well, nourishing it, and watering it properly are the fundamental and priority pillars in any fruit-growing project, since each of these aspects will influence not only the total production but also the final quality of the product.

Therefore, rather than going crazy adding agricultural inputs to our crops and soil, we must first understand what we have under our feet and then choose the best irrigation and nutrition strategies, whether foliar or through irrigation.

In addition to the above, the protection of the soil from radiation, as well as from damage caused by our own existence and conventional agricultural practices, is key and will be discussed at another time.

Renzo Canepa Gutierrez
renzo@agrocanepa.cl -
+56 9 79053241
Agro Canepa SpA
Chili