There is a good summary of Savoury-influenced approaches in the regen bible here in Australia -- ' Call of the Reed Warbler ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34951739-call-of-the-reed-warbler ) -- by Charles Massey. Of course, most of Australia is a dry climate and any 'crusting' issue is supposedly aimed at the exotic import of cloven hooves. However, other researchers point out that Australia lacks ruminant species of ecological significance -- aside from termites! -- and that our flora evolved in tandem with megafauna browsers that are now extinct. So who eats them now? Who crushes them?
* Interesting article here -- especially as it relates to how 'healthy' soils handle methane: How a termite’s mound filters methane (and what it means for greenhouse gases) ( https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-a-termite-s-mound-filters-methane-and-what-it-means-for-greenhouse-gases ) This ties into debates about the genesis of bushfire and why traditional Aboriginal firestick burning is so significant to landscape health. As Massey points out pure-Savoury is a bit passe as so many farmers have adapted their methods to local ecologies. While climates may be dry now, they weren't always so as plants and soils have adapted to change. In Massey's telling, plant species thought lost from a region return under protocols of Holistic management -- and Aboriginal elders defer to its impact for fostering pre-invasion mixes of plants and animals. However, I gather that soil crusts are of significant vulnerability here: > > In many of the world's drier areas extensive carpets of lichens, > bryophytes and cyanobacteria play important ecological roles. Such carpets > are called *biological soil crusts* and one of their major functions is > erosion control. In many dry parts of the world where there is no human > disturbance and no overstocking of grazing animals, biological soil crusts > can form very extensive, close to continuous, carpets on the soil and can > be the dominant or only photosynthesizers. Consequently such crusts are > the dominant or only primary producers on which other organisms depend. > Both lichens and bryophytes commonly have root-like structures (but not > true roots) to anchor themselves to the soil. In lichens they are called > *rhizines* > and in bryophytes they are called *rhizoids*. The small book listed in the > reference button gives an excellent introduction to these soil crusts, > with photographs of many of the crust-forming species found in Australia.-- > LINK ( https://www.anbg.gov.au/lichen/ecology-soil-crusts.html ) Best practice is, anyway, that vulnerable areas of landscape are fenced off from grazing. Here it is usually watercourses and swamps -- and a regenerative farmer would be a fool not to protect them. Indeed, one of the pluses of Savoury influenced methods is that watering is dissipated through the paddock system rather than allowing the livestock to walk to natural water supplies to drink. As for science and holistic grazing , Australia's major science body, the CSIRO, has done scattered research on the method. ( https://www.publish.csiro.au/cp/search?q=rotational+grazing+&sjournal=on ) But research is lagging way behind farmer enthusiasm for regenerative agriculture approaches esp in the livestock industry. Indeed the farmers associations back regen and are committed to net zero emissions by 2030. ( https://farmersforclimateaction.org.au/media-release/australian-ag-leading-way-on-net-zero-emissions/ ) Albeit as a market niche. It is worth noting that recent developments promoting seaweed as a methane suppressant for ruminant gases, must presume a feedlot system of production rather than free ranging. [See discussion here] ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/soilalliance/permalink/4050255624993891/ ) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7320): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7320 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/81380658/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
