Living Soil at Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth
In 2022, the Living Soil Network undertook a simple study at Jordan’s Farm in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. In a new greenhouse, one 80ft row of kale grown with chemical fertilizer (urea) was compared with an adjacent 80ft row of kale grown with only microbial soil drenches and some surface compost applications.
During the first month of the study the chemical rows were clearly growing at a faster rate, but after 7 weeks the biological rows had caught up and both rows were producing kale at normal rates.
It’s important to note that the test row’s soil organic matter levels were under 3% at the time of planting. Also, the growers didn’t follow our instructions on two essential points. They used biocidal potting soils for their kale starts and did not add the biologically complete compost, which we provided, when transplanting those starts to the soil. Despite these setbacks, the biologically grown kale eventually equalled the production of the chemically grown kale!
Our intention with these studies is to demonstrate to local farmers and growers the benefits, to humanity and our environment, of growing with microbes.