Billy wrote:
....
Microbes in and around food crops do not just cause human disease.
In certain cases, they do exactly the opposite, acting as sentinels of
food safety and furnishing an environmentally sound alternative to
massive inputs of fertilizers and pesticides.

Spreading bacteria on crops became a strategy for researchers in
Virginia who sprayed anti-Salmonella soil bacteria on tomato seedlings.
The scientists hope the approach might prevent annual outbreaks of food
poisoning from raw tomatoes grown on the East Coast.

likely caused by CAFO chicken litter being used as
fertilizer.


Applying fungi to cassava plants, a project of researchers in
Colombia, helps the roots acquire phosphate without the need for
expensive fertilizers, a boon in tropical nations where the amount of
nutrient that can be obtained from the soil is particularly low.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...help-grow-bett
er-crops

Remember that chemical fertilizers kill off soil microorganisms, and and
only about 20% is taken up by plants.

Each microorganism in the soil community is a sack of plant nutrients,
which is released when the organism dies. The plant will take up these
nutrients, and give back exudates which feed the microorganisms around
the rhizosphere. Simultaneously, they make topsoil together.

it's not just the bacteria and fungi that build topsoil,
there are many other creatures in the mix, worms, ants,
termites, ...


songbird