Ecosoil's mission is to provide products and services to farmers that will enable them to increase farm profits in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner, by lowering their dependency on fertilisers and pesticides as well as by increasing crop production and quality.
This is achieved by increasing soil fertility and soil health through the application of beneficial micro-organisms and organic material, and by balancing the soil's chemical composition. We further endeavour to achieve this with as little cost to the grower as possible. Compost tea is the cheapest and quickest way to increase soil fertility and soil health at the lowest cost. In most cases the cost of the program is less than the saving on fertilisers alone.
What does healthy soil look like? It has the right mineral, biological and physical balance. Soil is minerally balanced when it has the right pH, the correct amounts of macro and micro elements, in the correct ratios. Physically balanced soil will have roughly 5% organic matter, 45% minerals and 50% pore space, divided into equal parts water and air. How is this pore space created? The formation of soil aggregates is a biological process, controlled by certain microbes (mostly bacteria) that produce slime layers and gels that bind mineral and organic particles together into aggregates. These aggregates are further strengthened by certain kinds of fungi that grow throughout the aggregate and physically bind it. Small animals like earthworms create tunnels that help to aerate the soil. Most conventional agricultural soils are compacted, with very little soil structure. This is largely due to the elimination of the above-mentioned organisms by the use of inorganic fertilisers and pesticides.
