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Hey there! Glad you could stop by to learn more about Green Bridge Growers, the innovative social venture with the mission of  growing good food and good jobs for young adults on the autism spectrum.

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Healthy Soil, Healthy Food

10/28/2022

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Hi again! Today we’re going to be discussing the importance of soil health to ensure the production of healthy crops at home and on larger scale farms. If you are new to gardening, you might not know how important healthy soil is to any system. When you plant crops, they take a lot of nutrients out of the soil, so it is important to find ways to take care of the soil and preserve those nutrients for future crops. In addition to being the place where many plants grow, soil also filters and cleans water for human use, contains many different organisms that help with biodiversity, in addition soil actually holds an immense amount of carbon which helps to combat climate change.

According to our friends at the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), “Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans.”

Some of the essential functions of soil include:
  1. Regulating water
  2. Sustaining plant and animal life
  3. Filtering and buffering potential pollutants
  4. Cycling nutrients
  5. Providing physical stability and support
More information on these functions of soil can be found here.

Now that we have discussed why it is important to keep soil healthy, we will touch on ways to improve soil health and soil structure. Some important principles to improve soil health include minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing soil cover, maximizing biodiversity, and maximizing presence of living roots. With the introduction of one or all of these principals, you can have healthier soil and great-looking crops anywhere!

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Some practices that you can put into place at the farm or at home include no till or reduced till which can reduce soil erosion and soil compaction. The use of cover crops is a great method that can build soil organic matter, reduce erosion, and provide nutrients to future crops. Crop rotation is a practice that can reduce pests and diseases that are specific to certain plant species.

These are all practices that we have used here at Green Bridge Growers that have proved to help improve soil health in a sustainable and organic way. You can implement any of these practices to your at home garden to help improve soil health. If you are interested in learning more about cover crops as a way to improve soil health, you can check out my other blog all about cover crops and how we use them at the farm!

If you are interested in learning more about soil health, I have attached some helpful links below.

https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/soil-structure-and-its-benefits/#:~:text=It%20provides%20an%20environment%20for,contains%20immense%20levels%20of%20biodiversity

https://www.farmers.gov/conservation/soil-health

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detailfull/national/soils/health/?cid=nrcseprd1850026

-Keely Charles

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    About Us

    Green Bridge Growers is a social enterprise created to put to work the many gifts and skills of young adults with autism.  Our founders, Chris and Jan, are building an exciting venture that grows fresh local food and grows great jobs for autistic adults. We invite you to learn about us and follow our work! 

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Green Bridge Growers
61591 Bremen Highway
Mishiwaka IN 46544


574-310-8190
[email protected]

  • Our Blog
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • How We Do It
  • Contact Us
  • Press
  • Produce Orders