Soil depletion and erosion may be one of the greatest unseen threats to humanity and ecological diversity. It’s also a threat that Laconic is taking seriously.
The United Nations has sounded an alarm bell with a prediction that global topsoil is so depleted and eroded, we have less than 60 harvests remaining before we can no longer feed the planet.
In the UK, former environment secretary, Michael Gove declared that the UK is 30 to 40 years away from “the fundamental eradication of soil fertility”, adding “Countries can withstand coups d’état, wars and conflict, even leaving the EU, but no country can withstand the loss of its soil and fertility.”
The island of Bali in Indonesia is famous for its temples, beaches and vibrant green rice paddy fields, of which a million photos show nature in its most tranquil state. However, look below the surface and a different story unfolds, of soil so depleted that farmers rely entirely on artificial fertilizers, nitrogen fixing agents and dangerous pesticides. Ten minutes of standing in a Balinese rice paddy can be an experience that is entirely devoid of seeing or hearing any life, except that of humans.
“On-farm soil carbon sequestration can potentially sequester
all of our current annual global greenhouse gas emissions of roughly 52 billion gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent
(~52 GtCO2e).”
Rodale Institute
It’s here in Bali that Laconic has invested to develop regenerative agriculture solutions that reduce reliance on chemicals, whilst improving biodiversity, water quality, crop quality and CO2 sequestering.
It’s estimated that 30% of global CO2 emissions are from modern farming practices, where the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilization promotes microbial release of CO2 and phosphorus fertilization suppresses the growth of symbiotic root fungi, which increase long-term carbon sequestration.
In Bali, Laconic is adopting rice paddies that have been farmed with artificial fertilizers for over 30 years. Along with our partners, BioArk, we are inoculating depleted soils with a 100% nonchemical, non-synthetic microbial solution that provides plant nutrition and improved systemic resistance against pests, diseases and stress.
The results of improving microbial and fungal soil populations are:
Our investments and partnership with BioArk into Regenerative Agriculture will provide improvements across the 3R’s
1.
Retention of soil nutrients and fertility - locked by biology; better soil tilth, friability and overall soil health.
2.
A living ecosystem that regenerates and restores beneficial life resulting in more resilient growing ecosystems
No chemical run off and nutrient leeching; remediation of ground water and waterway.
3.
Image Credit: www.bioark.life
ENVIRONMENTAL REGENERATION
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Remove and replace use of synthetic inputs
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Increase soil fertility through microbial and permaculture methods
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Remediate land to reduce and eventually remove ground pollutants
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Recharge on-site groundwater levels
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Improve water quality going through the land
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Increase immediate biodiversity within land
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Provide farmers with more revenue opportunities – potential monthly incomes rather than per 3-4 month waits between harvest
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Raise absolute dollar revenues of farmers/landowners
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Raise productive value of land and land use to compete with industrial/tourism activity to avoid existing cycles of land loss
ECONOMIC REGENERATION
COMMUNITY REGENERATION
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Allow land owners an opportunity to take part in:
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Community pride and resilience
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Sustainability blueprint for other interested stakeholders
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Meaningful engagement and knowledge sharing within local community
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Education and upskilling opportunities
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Our Balinese regenerative farm land will be portioned for multiple safe-to-fail experiments, in which different approaches will be carefully monitored and quantified to assess benefits across the 3R’s.
Laconic’s aim is to show that regenerative practices can create healthy environments, as well as increasing crop yields, to benefit communities in a multitude of ways.