December 2024 / January 2025
The science of soil health
What is soil health? People debate the details, but health basically means the same whether we’re thinking about our soils or ourselves – it’s a measure of functionality. Healthy table-grape growers get up every morning to work toward their next harvest, while sick growers stay in bed. Healthy soils work every day to sustain life on earth, while sick soils must be chronically medicated with chemical inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. Sheila Storey should know. She founded Nemlab in 1987 to diagnose nematode problems in crops