Soil needs to go on a big diet, biological nitrogen fixation is the way: scientist Wang Qiaoping's farming experiment
What friendly farmers always keep in mind is that they must take good care of the ecology and build up good soil, but what counts as good ecology? Good soil? Does having birds appear in the field mean there is ecology? Does black soil mean good soil? How exactly does science explain this? Is there a simple and clear indicator? Let a scientist who specializes in soil and personally farms tell you straight to the point!
Raising a hoe high, she brought it down into her own vegetable garden with one stroke. "Come, come, come, let me show you what a beautiful 'aggregate' looks like," Wang Qiaoping said proudly as she pulled up a weed, its roots clumped with a large ball of soil. "For a thin and weak woman like me, pulling weeds takes no effort at all, because I have built the soil up to be very loose and soft!" "Ah, I cut an earthworm in half, I'm really sorry, but every casual shovel hits one!" "Haha, I see the thing I want most, a centipede!"
The "Teacher Wang" before us, wearing glasses, with a student-style haircut, humorous and full of youthful energy, is Wang Qiaoping, associate researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute. After earning a doctorate in soil science in Germany, she spent over twenty years working in forest and soil research, and has long lived in Shengou Village, Yuanshan Township, Yilan. From running in the mountains to farming, she jokes that she went from "female Tarzan to female earth person," and once she got into the field she could not pull herself away at all.
Give soil organisms a chance, and they will help you earn more
"I don't follow any farming method, I just hope every farmer can build a complete food web in your soil," after finishing an entire class on "soil ecology" covering soil physics, chemistry, and biology, the witty Teacher Wang suddenly spoke earnestly, "I only ask you to do one thing: give your soil organisms a chance, and they will help you fix carbon, fix nitrogen, help loosen your soil, help form aggregate structure, help your soil aerate, drain, retain moisture, and retain fertilizer... Such a profitable thing, why not do it?"
When we talk about forest functions, we talk about forest production, increasing soil carbon sequestration, releasing the oxygen humans need, and other ecosystem service functions... If forests were replaced by farmland, why would it not be the same? Wang Qiaoping said that so-called environmentally friendly farming, so-called ecological farming, is not only about not using pesticides and chemical fertilizers, and not only about having waterbirds flying back and forth in the fields, but about keeping the entire ecosystem, including living and nonliving components, in mind.
Ecosystems serve humans, and humans should also serve ecosystems, "service should be mutual." Wang Qiaoping believes that, after all, in the end, humans cannot stand outside the ecosystem, and humans are ultimately the only part of the ecosystem that can actively make change.