Mycorrhizal Fungi: A Multipurpose Enabler of Organic Growers. Vickie Peck, Ph.D. Bio-Logic LLC, Placitas, NM

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1 Mycorrhizal Fungi: A Multipurpose Enabler of Organic Growers Vickie Peck, Ph.D. vmpeck@gmail.com Bio-Logic LLC, Placitas, NM

2 Industrial Agriculture is Currently Growing Most of the World s Food Problem: The US food system is responsible for % of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions Emissions are increasing by 4 billion tons per year photo - Union Concerned Scientists

3 Global Crisis of Abandoned Farm Land Decreases Food Production Globally, there are ~ 5 billion acres of degraded agricultural land Annually, we lose 75 billion tons of farm soil due to erosion 33% of potentially arable land is affected by salinization The world s arid and semi-arid lands are most vulnerable to desertification Soil compaction has resulted in a 20-50% reduction in yield in parts of Europe and USA

4 Industrial Agriculture Requires Mining and/or Manufacturing of Essential Nutrient Inputs Potassium is extracted from potash mined in SE New Mexico Phosphorus is now mined primarily in the Middle East, and imported to the USA Nitrogen is extracted from the earth s atmosphere using fossil fuels Jason Parker-Burlingham, Flickr: Phosphate mine panorama

5 Can Farmers Grow Successfully Using Minimal or No Fossil Fuels and Chemicals? Pius Floris set out to prove it was possible on a barren Spanish field. He added a mix of microbes and wine grape leavings, then he planted vetch, oats and small olive trees. He did not water the field. Photo Merton Brown, Visuals Unlimited, Inc

6 Three Years Later Floris Returned His field was flourishing. The neighboring field farmed using industrial ag practices was bare. His secret? Mycorrhizal fungi, or root-associated fungi! Photo Miguel Santos Agenicia Grafica Photogenic

7 A Mutually Beneficial, 470 million Year-old Economy: Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plants PLANTS Nutrients + Micronutrients Sugars + Oils MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI

8 Mycorrhizal Fungi Deliver Essential Nutrients to Plants Nitrogen, Phosphorus Potassium Fungi: soil0902.pdf; Sarah Wright search 2-3 times the area surrounding plant roots transport nutrients back to roots where the fungus and the plant exchange goods

9 Mycorrhizal Fungi Deliver Micronutrients to Plants Essential plant micronutrients: iron, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, molybdenum and many more Wikipedia: Copper Mineral

10 Is There a Connection Between the Decline of Micronutrients in Plants and People? Zinc, iron and magnesium have been declining in human diets in the USA since the 1950s Could it be that disruption of mycorrhizal fungi by industrial farming and soil practices has resulted in declining micronutrients in people? Total Health Magazine: Minerals and Trace Minerals Missing in the American Diet, Dallas Clouatre, Ph.D.

11 Mycorrhizal Fungi Offer Key Services to Plants Services: Strengthen plant defense against pathogens Assist with plant communications

12 Mycorrhizal Fungi Deliver Water to Plants Plants grown with mycorrhizal fungi may have 100 times more water around the roots than a plant grown without mycorrhizal fungi. Plants were drought-stressed for one week. Left - grown without mycorrhizal fungi Right - grown with mycorrhizal fungi photo: Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies

13 Mycorrhizal Fungal Categories Endo-Mycorrhizal Fungi are generalists Arbuscular Mycorrhzial Fungi (AM Fungi) comprise ~ 300 species that interact with ~80% of plant species Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Ecto-Mycorrhizal Fungi are specialists Interact with specific trees, e.g. conifers and oaks Non-Mycorrhizal Plants ~10% of plants do not interact with mycorrhizal fungi Emilie Tisserant et al. PNAS 2013;110:50:

14 ~ 10-15% of Plants Grow Without Mycorrhizal Fungi Non-mycorrhizal plants are often weeds, also familiar cover crops and favorite vegetables Brassicaceae -broccoli, cabbage, kale Amaranthaceae - amaranth, beets, chard, spinach Polygonaceae - buckwheat, rhubarb Portulacaceae - purslane Non-mycorrhizal plants may have abundant, fastgrowing roots, or very long root hairs

15 Growing with Mycorrhizal Fungi: In healthy soils most plants have a symbiotic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi. This is especially important in arid and semi-arid conditions. Desert Technology Recommended: A SIMPLE METHOD FOR MAKING YOUR OWN MYCORRHIZAL INOCULUM

16 our Own Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculum: Clear detritus from a 3-ft 2 area with undisturbed native vegetation. Collect a 10 inch-deep layer of soil from the cleared area and put into a sturdy plastic bag. Make small holes for drainage. Plant a mixture of bait plants in soil.

17 our Own Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculum: After three months stop watering. Cut plants off at the top of their roots. Mycorrhizal fungi will produce spores to survive. After ten days, carefully pull up the cutoff roots with spores. Chop the roots into ~ half-inch bits and mix back into the soil. This is your inoculum.

18 Using Your Mycorrhizal Fungi Add a pinch of inoculum as you plant seeds. Don t add fertilizer, herbicides or fungicides. Refresh with more starter soil and re-plant with bait plants. Repeat the cycle.

19 Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Help Mitigate Climate Change AM Fungi make lots of glomalin Glomalin proteins seal the microscopic fungal tubes called hyphae that transport nutrients

20 Glomalin Protein Sequesters Carbon in the Soil Glomalin makes up ~ 30% of all the carbon in most soils! Glomalin proteins remain intact for 7-37 years in the soil Thus, propagating AM-fungi substantially enriches soil organic carbon A technician checks maize plants for glomalin production. Keith Weller, ARS News and Information Sept 2002

21 Practices that Support Mycorrhizal Fungi and Climate-Friendly Growing No-till methods of cultivation protect fungal hyphae. Perennial crops are required to feed carbon to mycorrhizal fungi. Avoid fungicides and herbicides. Protect soil microbes!

22 Hope for the Future If widely implemented, these practices have the capacity to sequester hundreds of billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere in the coming decades. Combined with decreased fossil fuel usage, this could bring us back from the brink Eric Toensmeier, The Carbon Farming Solution

23 Thank you Michael Crofoot - Special thanks for sharing techniques, information, field knowledge and infectious excitement about mycorrhizal fungi CoGrow - Suzanne, Bianca, Tony, Jonn, Bobbye, Anne Marie, Bob, Dolores John Zarola Lynda Garvin

24 Primary References Eric Toensmeier, The Carbon Farming Solution, Chelsea Green Publications (2016) Michael Phillips, Mycorrhizal Planet, Chelsea Green Publications (2017) Sunseed Desert Technology A simple method for making your own mycorrhizal inoculum Jeff Lowenfels, Teaming with Fungi, the Organic Grower s Guide to Mycorrhizae; Chelsea Green Publications (2017) Jop de Vrieze, Science 13 Aug 2015 v349, 6249.pp680; DOI /science Dallas Clouatre, Ph.D; Total Health Magazine: Minerals and Trace Minerals Missing in the American Diet

25 Overlooking industrial, degenerate practices is no innocent act of omission It s plain to see why Monsanto and friends influenced the U.S. and United Nations delegates at COP21. They eliminated agriculture and soils from the COP21 agenda and thus the final agreement - despite overwhelming evidence that soil sequestration is the number one solution to stop the rise of CO2. - J. Roulac, The Fraudulent Science at COP21 Exposed, EcoWatch, Dec 17, 2015