“Feed Your Farm Microbes to Ferment a Force Field”
GROW-NUTRIENT-DENSE-FOOD
FARM FORCE FIELD service Bio-Stimulant supplies using scheduled workplans to pass on cost savings for farmers with bulk discounts from a secure on-going farm supply agreement.
THE SOIL IS ALIVE
Photosynthesis
Plants use sunlight to grow! They make sugars (a solid of Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H) and, Oxygen (O)) out of water (a liquid of H and O) that they source from the soil through their roots, and carbon dioxide (a gas of C and O) that they source from the air through their leaves. (Nicole Master 2019 ‘For the Love of Soil’)
Soil-Food-Web
Plants release some of these sugars through their roots to feed the soil food web. This helps the plant to save energy by allowing the soil microbes to convert these simple sugars into more complex ones. The plant, in turn, can absorb these more complex compounds back up through their roots without having to use the extra energy required to make them itself. (Nicole Masters 2019 ‘For the Love of Soil’)
Soluble Fertiliser
N:P:K fertiliser provide soluble nutrients in the form of salts. These salts are the same as the waste products from soil microbes that; fix Nitrogen (N), make Phosphorus (P) soluble, and release Potassium (K). Application of N:P:K fertiliser shut down soil microbes because they are effectively awash in their own urine! This means the soil microbes are no longer able to make more complex nutrients available to plants. N:P:K fertiliser application often results in a flush of crop growth which is partly due to soil microbes releasing nutrients after being killed off. This process will tend to leach key trace-minerals such as Calcium, Boron, Copper, Zinc, and Manganese making them deficient in the soil. Having too many soluble nutrients available can also encourage pest and disease organisms that rely upon these simple, less complex forms of nutrition. (Hugh Lovel 1994 ‘Quantum Agriculture’)
Humus Flywheel
If the soil food web is not killed off it will ‘mop up’ loose nutrients and store them as humus reserves in large, complex carbon molecules. This allows our humus loving soil microbes to return a steady stream of quality amino acids and mineral complexes to the plant, making it easier for crops to assemble their proteins and grow. The storage and transport of nutrients and minerals in the humus flywheel help soil microbes to sustain crop growth through extreme weather events. Humus also provides energy for the soil microbes that can unlock other primary sources of nutrients and minerals for plant growth for example, bacteria with digestive enzymes that decompose rock! (Hugh Lovel 1994 ‘Quantum Agriculture’)
Mycorrhizal Networks
Fungal hyphae act as pipelines moving nutrients and minerals from areas of higher to lower concentration. Fungi will trade nutrients and minerals with plants in exchange for carbon. However, fungi tend to drive a harder bargain with high-performing plants so that healthier plants have to trade more carbon for fewer nutrients and minerals. This means we can rethink the concept that each plant is competing evenly with its neighbour for the same resources. Opening up other options like companion plants and cover crops! (Michael Phillips 2017 ‘Mycorrhizal Planet’)
Plant Health
Plants have a natural defence system. This happens when contact with a pest or disease pathogen causes a molecular ‘signal’ to be released from the infection site to start producing a defence compound, including more than 350 known substances. Soil microbes associated with plant roots such as fungi and bacteria can actually enter into the cellular space of roots and indirectly activate pathways that increase the levels of resistance metabolites throughout the host plant before problems appear. (Michael Phillips 2017 ‘Mycorrhizal Planet’)
Hydrolysate Fertiliser
Liquid Fish Hydrolysate is not cooked or pasteurised like fish emulsion, keeping the lipid profile of fish intact providing the fatty acid nutrition that growers can use to quickly increase plant and microbe health. All life-forms use these fatty acids on which cellular biology flourish, including plants and the microbes associated with their roots, foliage and bark. Fungi, in particular thrive upon applications of these fatty acids because they digest their food externally and are accustomed to feeding in this way. We are frequently asked the question ‘How much nitrogen is in this fertiliser?’ and our answer is that it is more important to consider ‘In what form the Nitrogen is available!’ Fish Hydrolysate presents Nitrogen in more complex forms such as amino acid chains of C-H-N that can be taken up directly by plants and soil microbes to encourage “Nutrient-Dense” growth