Down and dirty: how regenerative farming is digging into microscopic soil life

Nurturing everything from bacteria and fungi to worms is seen as essential to helping minimise use of chemicals and machineryNick Padwick hunches over a microscope, examining a sample of compost he has made on his Norfolk farm. "Look at that bad boy! That's a bacteria-feeding nematode!" he exclaims. "Stunning fungal hyphae."Padwick, the farm manager at Wild Ken Hill since 2018, is part of a growing movement of farmers taking a deep interest in the microscopic life forms upon which their livelihoods depend. Under this approach to regenerative farming, nurturing diverse soil communities - from bacteria and fungi to microscopic animals and worms - is seen as an essential prerequisite for growing healthy foods with minimal or no use of agrochemicals or soil-damaging machinery.Use microscopy to identify missing or imbalanced soil organisms.Create nutrient-rich compost from farm waste, such as straw and wood chips.Put this compost in mesh bags and steep them in water, like giant teabags, to make extracts that can reintroduce beneficial microbes to depleted soils. Continue reading...