SOIL SERIAL KILLERS - PART 2

THE RAPID DECLINE IN OUR SOILS' ORGANIC MATTER

When you think of all the organic matter in our soil we call it collectively the Humic Substances. It's made of all the living and dead plant an animal materialk and algal matter all in their various stages of decomposition and age. 

They are the wonderful earthy smell of a freshly ploughed field and they're the life of rich fertile soils.

HUMIC SUBSTANCES

Humic Substances are extremely valuable. They are highly unique by being created bespoke to: their location, climate conditions, carbon availability, microbial activity and geographical area. 

One of their most remarkable roles is to make elements in the soil plant-ready. The they ensure plants get the nutrients they need in the balance they need. 

Soils with high levels of organic matter are less susceptible to drought and dessertification.

Humic Substances Carbon Capture

Nothing hoovers up carbon from the atmosphere like a soil rich in humic substances. In fact, the more humic substances in soil - the more carbon it can trap and hold carbon out of the atmosphere and the longer it can hold it for. 


Their role is so incredibly important because soils absorb more carbon than all the world’s vegetation and the atmosphere combined.

Humic Breakdown

Here's how humic substances are formed as they decompose and decrease in size over time, from the largest to the smallest:

1. Humus 
2. Humic Acids 
3. Fulvic Acids
4. Humin 
5. Humate 
6. Fulvate

HUMUS AND HUMIC ACIDS

Humus and Humic Acids are black in colour. They are formed near or on the surface soil and are the planet's major carbon resevoirs.

They're low oxygen compounds and key to soil structure and nutrient transport. 

Crucially, they are integral in the proper the development and maintenance of the soils' microbial network. 

Humus and humic acid always remain in soil and not absorbed by plants.


However the very next stage of decomposition of organic matter behaves differently - by not remaining in soil. 

FULVIC ACIDS
Here's where Mother Nature waves her magic wand - Fulvic Acids.  
Golden in colour fulvic acids are found in abundance in aged forest soils. Jurassic forests were packed with them.  

They're the only element in the humic substances chain that are absorbed by plants - and ultimately by humans.

And their role much more is than that. 

Part molecule part magician, they connect our living soil with the electrical charge inside the cells of our bodies. 

They are a transporter, solublizer, detoxifier, free radical scavenger, oxygen delivering, immune modulator, restorer of electrical balance and energy reformulator. 

And fulvic acids are unique because.....

  "....they do the very same things in the human body, as they do in our soils......"

....by transporting, solublizing, detoxifying, free radical scavenging, restoring of electrical balance, oxygen delivering, immune modulating, sugar metabolising and energy reformulating. 

Fulvic acids are smart nutrients - attaching either to a positively charged toxin or to a negatively charged nutrient. 

They can magically bypass cell walls taking any element they want with them...then taking out whatever they want when they leave.


They are The Great Adaptors. This ability to attach to, change or remodel a molecule is truly remarkable and magical.


This is not dissimilar to our brain's ability to remodel itself, to change and to adapt - regardless of age, known as brain plasticity.

THE SPIRIT FULVIC MOLECULE

Fulvic Acids are highly regarded in advanced spiritual practices. 

It's often suggested that geographical evolution of spiritual practices is due to the great availability of fulvic acids in the local soil and food chain. 

And their loss from soils represents a handbrake on the spiritual development and the use of the higher more evolved parts of the our brain.

 

So when Hipocrates said...."let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" - fulvic acid made food a lot different back then. 

 Fulvic Acids one nutrient we absolutely cannot affort to loose from our soils.

THE LOSS OF OUR HUMIC SUBSTANCES

However the whole chain of humic substances is collapsing.
 
In one of the largest field studies of its kind ever conducted, Northeastern University and The Organic Centre revealed that in chemically fertilized soils, the amount of organic matter has decreased substantially.

This study is due to be published in the scientific journal:Advances in Agronomy on October 1st 2017. 

It shows that on average, organic farms have 44% higher levels of humic acid -- than soils not managed organically.

If you're starting to wonder how it's all going to end, I am too. This is effecting millions of people and has respect for no-one, not even you.

So using samples from 700 farms in 48 U.S. states the research revealed that on average, soils from organic farms had:

• 13 percent higher soil organic matter
• 150 percent more fulvic acid
• 26 percent greater potential for long-term carbon storage

These are phenomenal differences, especially as you now know just how important these humic substances really are. 

You might even be beginning to consider having a raised bed in your own garden. 

And as you think about that now, you can discover how easy it is to make sure you and your family get the nutrition you all need. 

Growing Your Own

Growing your own vegetables - carrotts, cauliflower, green beans, beetroot is incredibly rewarding.

Nutrition for strong bones and teeth the the optimum function of the enritre body and brain. 

In fact the taste of even one serving of home grown, nutrient-dense food on your plate can bring the whole meal to life.

Conclusion

It's one of the only solutions left as more and more humic substances are stripped from our soil. 

Building a high-energy raised garden bed can be easy. Include real forest soil to get fulvic acids bringing the project to life. And its humic acids to start building the best microbial network you possibly can. 

You'll immediately get more nutrient dense food to begin with and have a premium carbon capture system in your own garden.

Then, add a soil test to bring minerals, trace minerals & their trace elements to the levels needed. Combined with the humic/fulvic you're producing real nutrient dense food. 

* Green Beans Image: By Hedwig Storch - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15890894
* Earth Hands Image: By Jeetendra23 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

THE AMAZING B6 VITAMER IN PLANTS

Recently a B6 Vitamer has been elevated to the role of saviour of our planet. As we’re knee deep in commecial fertilizers, anything that delivers less chemicals to our soils is of benefit. The quality of our food and the health of our planet are at stake. We urgently need to know more about limiting chemical fertilizers usage at the earliest possible opportunity

Credit: © Teresa Fitzpatrick, UNIGE

The jurassic mudsoak started off as an enormous prehistoric forest that fed on zero nitrogen fertilizers. And this fantastic B6 discovery may let us return to that. A truly remarkable discovery has been made by researchers at the University of Geneva:

 A B6 Vitamer has been discovered to display the remarkable characteristic of nitrogen signalling in plant metabolism.

A vitamin is the function performed by a group of vitamers call vitamers. A vitamer is a component part of a vitamin - each one having slightly different but complimentary biological roles. When properly combined, Vitamers have some serious therapeutic power.

Vitamin B6 has in fact 4 different vitamers including: pyridoxine, pyridoxal,  pyridoxamine and pyridoxal 5 phosphate. The pyridoxal phosphate vitamer(P-5-P) in the human body is intricately involved in gene transcription. As with all vitamers, they cannot be made and must be consumed from food every day

Recently, in the journal The Plant Cell, the results od a study point to a remarkable role of a B6 vitamer – PMP(pyrodoxamine 5′-phosphate).  Studies found it acting as a signaller, informing the plant of its ammonium content. What does this all mean?

 GREENHOUSE GASES

Ammonium is a powerful nitrogeneous compond. It is a key component of the nitrogen based commercial fertilizer NPK. Its use is widespread in agriculture today. however its production is a major producer of greenhouse gasses.

This has serious coinsequences for our environment and a significant contributor to global warming greenhouse gases. The application of amonium based fertilizer causes an increase in methane emissions. And the degradation of nitrogen based fertilizers increases nitrox oxide emissions.

These are 2 of the top 3 greenhouse gases in the world today. Nitrous Oxide has 298 times the global warming potential of an equal mass of carbon dioxide(CO2). This is the No. 1 greenhouse gas.

B6 Vitamer PMP

The remarkable of the new role for the B6 Vitamer in plants may change all that.

Researchers in conjunction with Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and the University of Düsseldorf studied a plant with a defective PDX3 enzyme – Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) which displayed clearly impaired growth.

“PDX3-defective plants cannot transform a vitamer called PMP, therefore the latter accumulates within the cell. While we hypothesized that the observed anomalies may be due to the high levels of PMP, we had no idea of the underlying mechanism and questioned its precise contribution.” (Maite Colinas, of the Geneva team and first author of the study.)

The unexpected discovery that the observed growth anomalies of the mutants were completely invalidated in the plants suplied with ammonium. Remarkably, the high levels of PMP in the PDX3-defective plants interfere with the nitrate into ammonium conversion. This resulted in the  impaired growth from the ammonium deficiency.

The PMP Signal

Applying their discoveries to other wild type plants they have made another observation. There was a considerable accumulation of the PMP vitamer in plants supplemented with ammonium. “When the plant contains enough ammonium for its needs, further production from nitrate is prevented, thus limiting energy waste and potential toxicity that can happen if too much is made. The level of PMP probably informs the plant about its ammonium state”.(Maite Colinas.)

This B6 vitamer may be used extensively to determine the nitrogen status of plants. This information may have a game chamging effect on the modern misuse of chemical fertilizer in agriculture.

As a result, we may finally have some remarkable potential at our disposal:

•     reducing the diasterous global warming effects of commercial fertilizer production
•     reduce the destructive effects of commercial fertilizer use on the environment
•     help maintain the soils delicate eco-system

THE FUTURE OF THE B6 VITAMER

Ultimately, we may be able to return to nutrient dense food production abundant in minerals, trace minerasl & their trace elements.

“In most natural soils the predominant nitrogen source for plants is nitrate, as they usually contain little ammonium. Plants must therefore import the former and convert it to ammonium, which can then be used for the biosynthesis of nitrogenous compounds including proteins to promote plant growth”, said Teresa Fitzpatrick, professor at the Department of Botany and Plant Biology of the Faculty of Sciences of UNIGE, who led the study.

The research group are now further investigating this signalling role of the B6 vitamer further. Their emphasis is on finding other compounds involved or if it is indeed by a direct action.

The 5 Soil Serial Killers - Part 1

Our precious soils are the foundations for our food, our feed and our entire planet ecosystems. Human health, vitality and even our way of life is entirely dependent upon robust soil systems. 

Soils are crucial to our supply of clean water and the largest store of terrestrial carbon on our planet. They even have individual microbial communities that vary from site to site just as each individual has their own different internal microbial communities in their guts. 

In fact careful study of the 2 areas of our soil and our internal microbial environment, would suggest that the health of one is  entirely dependent upon the health of the other. 

However, our soils have been infiltrated and are under attack. Soil serial killers are on the loose and comitting crimes against humanity.

THE SOIL SERIAL KILLERS

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Just as individual humans have different microbial communities in their guts, the microbial communities living in soils vary from site to site as well. Recent research compared the decomposition rates of wood stakes over eight sites to gain an understanding of soil microbes in forests. The activity of soil microbes can also tell a story of the value of carbon storage in soil.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-carbon-forest-soils.html#jCp

Today we have 5 major soil serial killers reeking havoc on all that soil sustains us. The precious resource beneath our feet is being depleted, disassembled and destroyed at an alarming rate. We already have war in Africa a a result of the absence of the food soil supplies.

SOIL CHEMISTRY

Soils work EXTREMELY hard at one thing among many - they make elements in the soil plant ready.  It's almost magical how elements are changed into nutrients.  

This is soil's secret power. They can do this because they are marvellously part chemistry, biology, electricity and magnetic. 

Measuring these 4 properties, plus another, is the key to producing real food - nutrient-dense high energy food. 

Plants ultimately make these nutrients HUMAN-READY.

But if you've ever heard the phrase "you won't know what you've got 'til its gone" it's absolutely true about where our soils are headed today and fast.

Here is the first indicator that our soil is headed to hell in a handbasket.

RAMPANT DEPLETION OF MINERALS, TRACE  MINERALS & THEIR TRACE ELEMENTS

The produce of commercial farming today is like the emperors new clothes - it ain't all it's made out to be.

And here's why: minerals, trace minerals & their trace elements are the bare necessities of life. They're needed in 2 specific ways:

• strong structures
• efficient functions

 They are used by living cells - regardless of their age or condition.In fact minerals, trace minerals and their trace elements are the chemistry of life.

As you now know, these vital components begin as elements in our soil. And also you know that soil makes these elements plant-ready. And plants then make them human-ready. 

So it's a chain, a sequence. And the more robust the links in any chain - the stronger and more resilient the whole chain is.

Sometimes people try to circumvent or reinvent this process. Most mineral supplemnents for example are still elements. They aren't even plant-ready let alone human-ready. 

The vast majority of calcium tablets fall into this category. They belong on soil - not in the human body.

REPLENISHMENT PRACTICE

Each time we plant our vegetables, fruit, grains and grasses - they take elements from the soil. Growing food is an extractive process.

Problem is, that the rate of soil replenishment commercially doesn't get even close to what's being extracted and absorbed by plants, fruits, grains and grasses. Less is going in to replace whats going out. 

The pot empties, the quality drops or the pot itself breaks.

So today, we've got a supply of fruit, vegetables, grasses and grains that look marvellous - lovely shape, all the same size, shiny and packed beautifully. However they're severely lacking in the very reason they're grown in the first place - nutriment. And as you now know these nutrients are specifically the minerals, trace minerals and their trace elements.

Replacing in soil what's been taken out is an additional cost. However the cost in the long run of not replenishing them is far greater still. And the pace of this depletion is out of control.

THE NATURAL DEPLETION

The slow natural depletion of elements from soil began 5,000 years ago. We could easily keep up with this with simple replenishment. However it's since 1940 this has gathered serious pace. It has inceased incredibly. Get this: we've lost more since the 1940's - than in the whole last 5,000 years combined. That's just unsustainable. In any other industry it would be a crime!

Today the power for soils to produce more comes from chemical fertilizer - chemical energy. This is almost exclusively NPK fertilizers are just pure energy.

At no point is a farmer rewarded for producing nutrient dense, high energy fruit and vegetables. It's now about quantity per acre - not quality.

Yet if you've ever tasted full powered, full flavoured, nutrient dense vegetables - even a single one on a plate of 'regular' food, you'll know how it brings the rest of the food to life.

THE EARTH SUMMIT

Commercial farming is the major extractive industry on the planet - not mining. And here are the results - some startling figures released more than 25 years ago.

In 1992, the official report of the Rio Earth Summit concluded “there is deep concern over continuing major declines in the mineral values in farm and range soils throughout the world”.

This statement was based on data showing that over the last 100 years, average mineral levels in agricultural soils had fallen worldwide: 

• 72 per cent in Europe
• 76 per cent in Asia
• 85 per cent in North America.

This statement was based on data showing that over the last 100 years, average mineral levels in agricultural soils had fallen worldwide. 

Most of the food we eat is now staggeringly nutrient deficient.

THE COMPOSITION OF FOODS

In 1927, Dr RA McCance started a study of the nutrient content of common foods at King’s College, University of London. Together with his colleague, Dr EM Widdowson, he published the results in 1940. The publication was called The Composition Of Foods.

The analyses have been repeated at regular intervals since. This has provided us a unique picture of the way the composition of our food has changed. 

The table below summarises the reductions in the average mineral content of 27 vegetables and 17 fruits, between 1940 and 1991.

Reduction in average mineral content of fruit and vegetables between 1940 and 1991

Mineral                                            Vegetables                                     Fruit
Sodium                                            -49%                                               -29%
Potassium                                      -16%                                               -19%
Magnesium                                    -24%                                                -16%
Calcium                                           -46%                                               -16%
Iron                                                   -27%                                               -24%
Copper                                            -76%                                               -20%
Zinc                                                  -59%                                               -27%

*The latest edition of McCance and Widdowson’s work was published in 2002, but no updated comparison of the figures has yet been published. However, it is likely that mineral values have continued to fall. 

THE MANGANESE SWITCH

Let's take a single element, manganese and see how its depletion effects the food chain. Manganese is known as the elements of life. Its needed in soil at 100ppm. (Calcium is needed in the thousands of parts per million.) Plants take it up from the soil in one specific form after a certain type of microbial bacteria has made it plant ready. 

However, its in the leaf where its a real superstar. The leaves of the plant take in light from the sun, like tiny solar panels. The plant then converts it into sugars or from solar energy into chemical energy in the plant. 

This process is called photosynthesis and it releases oxygen - the air we breathe - into the atmosphere. The role of manganese here cannot be underestimated. Its a magical role really. And here it is:

Manganese in one form picks up the energy. Then itswitches into a completely different versions of itself - a different manganese then transfers that energy over. Next, it switches back again, picks up more energy - then switches back and transfers the energy once again. It would be like you or I becoming someone else entirely for a moment, then just switching back over.
You probably wish you could do that sometimes.

There's nothing as incredible as this ability manganese has to become something else for a moment.

Without manganese in the soil there'd be no sugar in the plant and no oxygen for us to breathe.

In the human body manganese is also a real energy hotwire - energy transfer(surprise, surprise), bone strength, building skin collagen...and lots more. So without it we'd have energy problems, tiredness and lethargy, bone and joint problems, aches & pains, sagging skin. Here is a list of comprehensive list of magnanese deficiency symptoms and human manganese transport mechanisms.

Remember, there are more than 70 minerals, trace minerals and trace elements - each with their own deficieny disease and diseases.

CONCLUSION

And if you're wondering how you can help this process - just work some fallen leaves into your garden soil. When all the leaves are brown manganese is in the form your soil thrives on. Then little or no energy is required to get it back into the foodchain. 

We've now got to get minerals, trace minerals and their trace elemnts back into our soil - and fast. We've got to grow strong vibrant and healthy plants. Then we'll have the abundance of nutrients - in the form that we need to thrive. 

Otherwise this serial soil killer will get off the hook for crimes against our planet.

Keep reading the next in the series of Soil Serial Killers.