Illusion of soil organic matter

摘要

One thing that creates confusion on a soil test report is the figure for organic matter. We are told that sustainable farmers will work to build organic matter, but while some try hard and seemingly without result, others seem to find the organic matter percentage increasing without apparent effort, but also without any productive benefit. So what is really going on? Firstly, a note about Australian soils - we are often told they are different, but this is seldom explained. The carbon in soil is inseveral different forms. The form we want to build is stable, fully decomposed Humus. This is important in optimising soil function in terms of things like structure, nutrient retention and so on.