Vinumitineris : The soil - Part 1

The Soil

Preface

The soil is the less known natural environment where life grows. There are three environments which are air, water and soil.

Water :

Water is essential for life. In fact, it transports all the nutrients our body cells.
Water is a very particular molecule as it is formed by 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen (H2O). The 2 atoms of hydrogen are located on the same side and create a positive pole while the oxygen atom is on the opposite side and creates a negative pole. Through this bipolarity, water is able to transport the cation nutrients (potassium, magnesium, calcium) as well as the anion family (nitrate, phosphate, and sulphate). Water is a very solid and difficult to break molecule. To breake water molecule we should heat the planet up to 100°.

Air :

It is a very solid environment because it is formed by 79% of azote which is a triple nuclear binding molecule. This molecule has always been very hard to break till the 20° century when nitrate was created to develop bombs.

Soil :

The main difference between air, water and soil is that the two first are formed by molecules while the last one is formed by an organic-mineral complex which is very fragile and vulnerable. Soil is composed of organic matter (humus) and mineral matter (clays). Those two components are attached by very vulnerable electric fasteners.

History :

Soil biology is a very unknown science. In fact, it was considered as not noble and of little interest, as the farmers used to work the soil.
There are many essays about war, religion, astronomy and medicine but none regarding soil which is the main resource that feeds us since more than 7000 years.
The first soil biologist was in fact a geologist who was asked by the Russian Tsar to list all the Russian mineral richness in the 17° century. He discovered in the middle of the Russian steppe, a castle where on top of it, flowers grew. He noticed that flowers were growing on the rock and that they were creating some earth by themselves. For this reason, he realized that soil is a dynamic environment and that the plants create earth.
The first French agriculture treaty regarding the soil is “Théâtre d’agriculture et mésnage des champs” who dates back to the 17° century and was written by Olivier de Serre.

Humans till 19° century have destroyed 1 billion hectares of soil and we destroyed 1 more billion in the last century leaving only 1,5 billion hectares available for a very fast growing population.
Earth erosion is a very sensitive problem because we need to fed more and more people and the cultivable space is fewer and fewer.
One of the reasons for soil erosion is due to the wrong farming methods that the agriculture system is using by spraying pesticides, herbicide and insecticidal. Moreover, if the earth and the soil are not cultivated in a natural and organic way, humankind will face the world biggest problem.
Ill-treated soil stands out and goes directly into aquifers and consequently in the rivers therefore the water in the rivers is brown coloured and earthy instead of clear.
The majority of the population think that rivers are dirty because of industries.
This conception is partially wrong, in fact, rivers are full of earth because soil ill-treated.
Before the 19° century Parisians and Florentines used to drink water directly from “La Seine” and “L’Arno”.
In addition, Ill-treated soils demand more treatments and water to grow vegetables and fruits.
In fact, 80% of earth drinking water is used by agriculture while less than 10% would be needed with an organic and respectful agricultural system.

In order to understand how much critical, the situation is, we need first to understand how plants and soil work.

The first part of the article ends here. The following parts will talk about the soil and plants functioning, which was a great discover for me. I found this functioning incredible complex and interesting. I hope you will enjoy as I did.

All the best
Dylan