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That brings us
to another issue. Now I’m really getting in over my head!
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My experience
with soil is limited to being raised on a farm in central Alberta. I
encountered various types of soil on the farm and wondered how they came to
be formed. How essential is organic matter to soil fertility? I certainly
need your help to understand this.
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To quote Henry
Janzen, of Agriculture and Agri – Food Canada here in Lethbridge, “ Soil
organic matter is far more than a potential tank for impounding excess CO2;
it is a relentless flow of carbon atoms, through a myriad of streams – some
fast, some slow – wending their way through the ecosystem driving biotic
processes along the way” through provision of energy and nutrients.
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It is thought
that charcoal acts to help bacteria and fungi drive the soil building
processes that Henry refers to. How far can we go in converting organic
matter to char before we starve the microorganisms which maintain soil
health?
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