Benefits of Biodiversity

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

All ecosystems benefits from biodiversity, but a lot of the biodiversity that exists on our planet is below ground - and that includes in cropping systems. Biologist Dr. Toby Kiers says there are some real advantages to acknowledging and fostering a healthy soil microbiome.

Kiers... "Research is showing more and more that the more simple communities that you have in the soil, the the less protected they are against things like pathogens against nutrient loss. And what people are starting to realize is that biodiversity can actually help scaffold up. It can bring lots of different services that are not captured in very simplified habitats. We know that these fungi are really important for carbon drawdown. For example, we did some research that found that about 13 billion tons of CO2 are allocated every year from plants to mycorrhizal networks across the earth. But that's a huge number, right? That's equivalent to one third of the emissions from fossil fuels. So we know that these fungi, they've, they contain a lot of carbon. They contain lipids, and we know how important carbon is now for farming systems. So that's just one example of like how biodiversity can increase something like carbon stocks below ground."

Kiers said these fungi are key for plant function and carbon sequestration.