Brookside Agra: Soil is the gut of farming

Brookside Agra has developed an all-natural water conservation agent called H2OExcel to supercharge biological activity in the soil.

According to Ben Elliott, vice-president, agronomy operations, Brookside Agra/Cardinal Agriculture Services, just as the human microbiome contains populations of microorganisms that colonize the gut, mouth, skin and other areas of the body, populations of microorganisms colonize the soil and all things growing within the soil.

“We share some of the same relationships in our own bodies with microbes that we need doing work for us in the soil where we grow crops,” Elliott said. “Those microbial species in the soil are responsible for ensuring that the functioning systems work efficiently and keep it thriving and healthy. Think of the soil as the ‘gut’ of farming.”