Practical workshop "Soil life in grassland"
Our soils play a critical role in producing food, ensuring clean water, storing carbon and many other important functions. But what does the earthworm have to do with it and why is it so important for climate protection?
Site-adapted use of meadows in grassland
Careful selection of meadows plays a crucial role in providing cows with quality forage. Site-adapted management promotes, for example, a high level of biodiversity, prevents overexploitation and avoids erosion. Soil quality is an important factor that must be taken into account in order not only to maximize forage quality, but also to conserve natural resources.
Good soil, bad soil?
A good soil offers optimal conditions for the growth of plants and can provide the necessary nutrients and structure to allow plants to grow healthy and strong and thus has an essential role in agriculture. However, soil with low nutrients and low water storage capacity creates challenging conditions to which certain animal and plant species have adapted and evolved. As a result, native diversity in particular benefits from such soil, which provides essential habitat and a niche especially for specialized species that might not otherwise thrive in richer soil.
Healthy soil for healthy food and to protect the climate
An impressive variety of animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms live in our soil. There are more living beings in a single handful of soil than there are people on earth. The presence of beneficial soil animals is a key indicator of soil health. The more useful animals live in the soil, the healthier it is. An example of this is mycorrhizal fungi, which live in a symbiotic relationship with the roots of plants. These fungi colonize the delicate root system of plants, providing them with nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen while improving water availability.
Earthworms play an important role in breaking down foliage and other organic matter, releasing nutrients and contributing to soil fertility. At the same time, carbon is stored in the soil, which has a positive effect in the fight against climate change. It is estimated that around 2.700 gigatonnes of carbon are stored in the soil worldwide, which is more than the atmosphere and all living biomass combined! In addition, earthworms and other soil organisms play an important role in regulating the water balance. Through their tunnels and ducts, they improve soil permeability and promote efficient water uptake and storage. This is of great importance as healthy soils with good water holding capacity help reduce flooding and better handle droughts.
The WOERLE farmers as active living space designers
Within the framework of the federal, state and EU funded ÖKLproject "We build for diversity", in which WOERLE is a project partner, the participants from soil expert Dr. Andreas Bohner learned how to see, smell, feel and taste healthy soil and how to determine the soil quality directly on site with a practical approach. Many thanks to the speakers for this exciting and really instructive training. We are already looking forward to the practical workshop "Pointer plants for lean and nutrient-rich grassland soils" in May 2024.
