Soil Biological Fertility: Foundation for the Next Revolution in Agriculture?

Feeding the world's population in 40years will require improved efficiency in the use of plant nutrients and enhancement of soil resources. Over the past 60years, agricultural production has rapidly increased; however, continued degradation of soil may limit further increases. Improving the soil through enhanced soil biological activity has been proposed as a method of increasing the capacity of the soil to produce crops. Ongoing evaluations of one soil biological fertilizer with a patented process to convert and complex manure into stable finished products (AgroBiotic fertilizers) have been conducted in research plots and producer fields and have shown positive effects on grain yield and potato production. These effects are larger in soils with limited biological activity, suggesting that adding this unique AgroBiotic fertilizer helps restore the biological nutrient cycling in the soil. New developments and innovations that improve nutrient availability and the efficacy of soil biological fertilizers have the potential to help restore degraded soils and improve their production efficiency and capacity to feed the world's population.