Aug 7, 2018 08:52 PM
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-coming...errify-you
EXCERPT: . . . The study reviewed global evidence for loss of earthworms under modern conventional farming. Long-term farming trials—some that have run for over 170 years—consistently found losses of 50 percent to 100 percent of worm biomass, with an average loss of more than 80 percent. In other words, modern farming practices have killed off four out of five worms that once lived on farms. Farmers around the world have been turning verdant fields into subterranean deserts.
This matters because recent scientific advances have shown how soil life partners with plants through the original underground economy. [...] And no less than Charles Darwin recognized the importance of worms mixing organic matter into fertile soil. He called worms “God’s ploughmen” [...]
So just what’s been killing off the world’s worms? The new study blames tillage (plowing) and intensive use of chemical fertilizers that deplete soil organic matter. In other words, practices that form the backbone of modern conventional agriculture destroy worm food and decimate soil life. In the U.S. and around the world, soil organic matter levels are roughly half of their historical levels before the advent of modern agriculture....
MORE: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-coming...errify-you
EXCERPT: . . . The study reviewed global evidence for loss of earthworms under modern conventional farming. Long-term farming trials—some that have run for over 170 years—consistently found losses of 50 percent to 100 percent of worm biomass, with an average loss of more than 80 percent. In other words, modern farming practices have killed off four out of five worms that once lived on farms. Farmers around the world have been turning verdant fields into subterranean deserts.
This matters because recent scientific advances have shown how soil life partners with plants through the original underground economy. [...] And no less than Charles Darwin recognized the importance of worms mixing organic matter into fertile soil. He called worms “God’s ploughmen” [...]
So just what’s been killing off the world’s worms? The new study blames tillage (plowing) and intensive use of chemical fertilizers that deplete soil organic matter. In other words, practices that form the backbone of modern conventional agriculture destroy worm food and decimate soil life. In the U.S. and around the world, soil organic matter levels are roughly half of their historical levels before the advent of modern agriculture....
MORE: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-coming...errify-you