Article 12 · Soil & Compost
What Lives Beneath Our Feet? An Introduction to the Soil Food Web
An accessible introduction to the organisms that decompose material, cycle nutrients and help create living soil.
At Dasot Organic Farms, our work with microbiologists has become part of a wider effort to understand the farm as a living system. Soil is not just something that holds roots in place.
The soil food web describes feeding relationships between organisms, roots and organic matter. Some organisms help crops; others can cause damage. Their presence alone does not tell the whole story.
Meet the different groups
- Bacteria and fungi: Many decompose organic material; some form close relationships with roots, while others cause disease.
- Protozoa and nematodes: Some feed on microbes and contribute to nutrient cycling. Others feed on roots or other organisms.
- Earthworms and small arthropods: Depending on the species, they mix soil, shred residues, form channels or feed on other soil life.
- Living roots: Supply organic compounds that support organisms around them.
Support the conditions, not just the organisms
- Maintain suitable plant cover and organic inputs.
- Avoid unnecessary soil disturbance and traffic over wet ground.
- Check moisture and drainage: both prolonged drying and waterlogging affect soil life.
- Use fertilisers and crop treatments thoughtfully; effects depend on the material, dose and conditions.
- Do not assume a microbial product or compost drench will make soil self-sustaining.
We prepare manures and plant tonics in-house, but we still need to ask what the soil and crop require. Adding a preparation is not proof that a particular organism has established or that a problem has been corrected.
Diary note: Compare roots, soil structure and residue breakdown in the same places over time. Treat visible clues as questions, not laboratory results.