Farming with Soil Life: A Handbook for Supporting Soil Invertebrates and Soil Health on Farms

Springtails, annelids, predatory ground beetles, protists, rotifers, tardigrades, isopods, ants, and countless other creatures – larger and smaller – make up the vast below ground universe of soil life. More than a medium for growing plants, healthy soil is a living, breathing, complex of organisms more diverse and abundant than the entire above-ground world of the Amazon rainforest.

And while soil biology has recently started to gain traction as an interesting foundation of sustainable agriculture and biodiversity – most of the recent attention on soil biology has focused on soil microorganisms (the beneficial fungi and bacteria). This book is something different.

Co-authored by our own Eric, this publication (a joint release of the Xerces Society and the USDA-funded Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program) is a rare guide to the incredible diversity of living animals found in temperate soils. The micro- and meso-fauna of soils.

Beginning with basic overview of soil functions, properties, and classifications, the guide then pivots to instructional sections on how to observe living soil organisms through the use of tools such as simple-to-make pitfall traps and various soil organism extraction funnels.

The middle section of the book is devoted to more than 70-detailed profiles of various types of soil animals, including life history information such as their diets, size, identifying features, where they live within soils, the relative numbers of species that make up various groups, and notes of interest.

Various other chapters include information of how soil becomes degraded or restored through different agricultural and land management practices. There are other soil books out there, but very few like this one.

Publisher’s list price: $28.00 / Our Price: $14.55