The Soil Foodweb

Dr. Elaine Ingham, B.A., M.S, Ph.D., is the president and director of research at the Soil Foodweb Inc. The Soil Foodweb Inc. began from Dr. Ingham’s creative work as an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University and today Dr. Ingham is a world-renowned research Scientist. Her work is focused in the area of soil microbiology and what Dr. Ingham has described as the soil food web, studying the effect these living organism have on the ecosystem when organic compounds are continually applied to the soil and plant foliage.

Dr. Ingham’s work has expanded around the world with offices and laboratories located in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Ingham has written extensively on the soil food web and authored “Soil Biology Primer” for the United States Department of Agriculture. Dr. Inghams work is changing the industry’s perspective of organic fertilization and the positive effect it has made on the world’s agronomy.

The Soil Food Web

The soil food web has long been part of the earth’s biological system. Understanding it’s complexity is an unending challenge but, maintaining it organically has given unparalleled benefits.

Results already demonstrate that the complex soil biomass benefits from the addition of natural organic carbon sources. We have seen that with less use of fertilizer, increases in the soil’s water holding capacity, and a decrease in plant disease.

Continuing to apply organic mixes to the soil increases the activity of the biomass and thus the biomass is more productive, which directly impacts the ecosystem. This allows more nutrients to be retained in the soil by the biomass and less to be leached through the soil.

Higher levels of organic nutrients retained in the soil have a positive impact on plant productivity and plant health. Nutrient cycling within the soil biomass is essential to the ecosystem; the relationship
between soil organic matter and soil biomass is essential for successful agronomy.

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