Rooted in experience. Evolving with insight.

Our story

Our Story

Ecosoil was founded by Jako Pieterse after a defining realisation while managing a conventional fruit farm in the late 1990s. Despite applying best-practice agronomy and modern technology, the system steadily lost function. Pest and disease pressure increased, soils compacted, water infiltration declined and fertiliser dependence rose. These were clear symptoms of a biologically depleted system.

A turning point came in 2000 during a farming study group on organic agriculture. Exposure to microbial ecology and root exudate dynamics revealed the underlying issue: soil biology had been unintentionally stripped from the system.

What followed was a practical, field-driven process of rebuilding soil life. Compost teas, biological inputs, reduced disturbance and deliberate feeding of soil organisms through residues and plant diversity slowly restored system function. The results were decisive: pest pressure stabilised, compaction disappeared, nitrogen inputs dropped by roughly 70% and yields exceeded previous benchmarks.

By 2005, it was clear this work demanded full-time focus. Ecosoil was established to help farmers restore soil function faster, more reliably and with fewer costly detours.