"Our future depends on the future of the earthworm"
This French agronomist practices a type of farming that collaborates with earthworms. He explains why they're so important.
This French agronomist practices a type of farming that collaborates with earthworms. He explains why they're so important.
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00:00Our future depends on the future of the greenhouse, because the greenhouse, in a cultivated soil,
00:20is the only animal, it is the only animal capable of permanently rejuvenating the soil,
00:27and that the soil remains productive and fertile.
00:29The work of the greenhouse is to maintain its gallery and constantly reassemble clay,
00:35which will mix with the organic matter, that is to say that it will sprout and mix with this organic matter,
00:39and through these ejections, actually, constitute what is called the humic clay complex.
00:46When I was a child, on the farm, we worked, and behind the cart, there were thousands of acres of land.
01:02If we take the case of a Normandy meadow, that is to say, a greasy, humid meadow, with abundant food,
01:08we could find up to 4 tons of acres of land.
01:13In a cultivated soil, a cereal soil, for example, cultivated in organic matter, that is to say,
01:20in organic matter, without pesticides, where the soil is nourished, despite everything,
01:24we find on average 1 ton 250 kg, which is quite logical, there is still a slight work of the soil,
01:30there is a disturbance of the environment.
01:32In a soil that is now cultivated with chemistry, we find less than 50 kg.
01:36The real cause is the absence of food, and it is the rise in the power of pesticides,
01:42and it is the rise in the power of chemical fertilizers.
01:44That is to say, instead of nourishing the life of the soil, which nourishes the plants,
01:52we nourish the plants directly through chemistry.
01:55However, this agriculture is a non-sustainable agriculture,
01:59that is to say, it is limited in time, since it exhausts the soil.
02:07When I farm, it is not to feed my cows, it is to feed my earthworms,
02:12to feed the life of the soil.
02:14And the fattier the life of the soil, the more it is abundant, the healthier it is,
02:19the more it produces food for the plants, the less we need a crop,
02:22the less we need pesticides, because there is biodiversity, there is a form of self-regulation.
02:29It is absolutely incredible that an animal, the first auxiliary, the first ally,
02:34the first partner of the farmer, does not exist in the law,
02:38does not benefit from any protection.