Wednesday, November 15, 2006
245-4
The Grand Unified Field Theory.
Michelle Wander, Univ of Illinois,1102 S Goodwin Ave. MC-046, Urbana, IL 61801
The rise of modern agriculture was launched in the 1850s with Liebig's articulation of the 'Law of the Minimum'. He deposed what was then called the humus theory when he demonstrated how the most limiting nutrient constrained plant growth and explained his law by describing the various elements required for mineral nutrition as individual staves in a barrel, where the shortest stave (the limiting nutrient) determines the useful volume of the barrel (the capacity of the soil to produce). Since that time, conventional management strategies have not effectively considered something that Liebig appreciated well --which is that physical and biological fertility of soils are the foundation upon which the barrel rests. Fertility management strategies that treat soils as an inert vessel through which plants are fed or that take a simplistic view of mineralization are degrading the soil and reducing nutrient and water use efficiency. Concern for the soil and the implications of modern soil management has been expressed in the organic, biodynamic, and permaculture movements. With the current pressures on agriculture, growing interest in sparing land for fuel and fiber crops and the rapid growth of the organic industry, it is time that modern science comment on this discussion with a new version of the humus theory. A grand unified field theory that is inspired by many past workers, including Rudolf Steiner, Lady Eve Balfor, Sir Albert Howard, and Ben Stinner, as well as by current colleagues, will be proposed.