Your unique agricultural context is at the centre. This includes your production and financial goals, historical production factors, ecological conditions, community dynamics, and your own beliefs and values.

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Reduce disturbances such as soil cultivation, synthetic inputs, and chemical applications to protect soil structure and soil life.

Minimising soil disturbances is crucial if you want to maintain soil structure and promote biological activity. Soil cultivation, synthetic additives, and chemical applications disrupt the soil system and lead to various negative consequences, such as:

• Damage to soil structure: Soil cultivation destroys soil aggregates, reduces pore space, and impairs the soil's ability to retain water and support root growth. This can lead to compaction, erosion, and reduced water uptake.

• Disruption of Microorganisms: Soil disturbances affect the habitat of beneficial soil microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. This can lead to a decrease in the diversity and activity of microbes, which in turn impacts the nutrient cycle and soil health.

• Effects of chemical additives: Synthetic fertilisers and pesticides can harm beneficial soil organisms and weaken the food web in the soil. This can disrupt the nutrient balance and lead to the pollution of water bodies.

If you minimise soil disturbances, you protect the soil structure, increase microbial activity, and promote a more stable and resilient soil system.

Keeping the soil covered with living plants or plant residues is crucial if you want to protect it from erosion, extreme temperatures, and the loss of microbial activity. Cover crops and plant residues play a central role in this.:

• Erosion control: A ground cover prevents wind and water erosion by stabilising the soil surface. This is particularly important when you are working on slopes or in regions with heavy rainfall.
  
  
• Temperature regulation: The covering of the soil helps to regulate soil temperature and protects soil organisms from extreme heat and cold. This allows an active microbial community to be maintained.
  
  
• Moisture retention: Covered soil retains moisture better than uncovered soil, which reduces evaporation and improves water availability for your plants and microbes.
  
  
• Habitat for microorganisms: A covered soil promotes diverse microbial communities. Plant residues and living roots provide food and habitat for bacteria, fungi, and other soil organisms.
  
  
• Cover crops: Cover crops additionally contribute to soil health by adding organic matter, fixing nitrogen, and suppressing weeds through competition and allelopathy. By covering your soil, you not only create protection but also promote the fertility and resilience of your soils.​

The promotion of biodiversity among plant species, soil microbes, insects, and wildlife creates a resilient ecosystem. A diverse system is more productive and better able to withstand stress factors such as pests, diseases, and climate fluctuations:

• Plant succession: If you understand plant succession, you can manage your fields more effectively. Early successional plants, often regarded as weeds, quickly cover bare soil. They can provide you with clues about soil conditions and contribute to soil health by protecting it and adding organic material. Over time, and through targeted management, these early plants can be replaced by more desirable species as soil health improves through your efforts.
  
  
• Mycorrhizal and soil fungi: Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiotic connections with plant roots, thereby improving the uptake of nutrients and water. These fungi extend the root system and facilitate access to nutrients, such as phosphorus. By promoting the establishment of these mycorrhizal relationships through reduced soil cultivation and plant diversity, you support soil health sustainably.
  
  
• Bacteria and soil microbes: Soil bacteria play a central role in the decomposition of organic material, nitrogen fixation, and the nutrient cycle. A diverse microbial community enhances soil fertility and plant health. Practices such as crop rotation, cover crops, and organic fertilisation promote microbial diversity and activity.
  
  
• Beneficial insects and wildlife: Diverse plant communities attract beneficial insects, such as pollinators and natural pest controllers. These insects help you to control pest populations and improve pollination, leading to higher yields and a reduced need for chemical inputs.

Through these approaches, you build a resilient system that is healthier, more stable, and more productive in the long term.

Maintaining living roots in the soil throughout the year is crucial if you want to sustainably promote the health of your soil. Living roots provide you with a variety of valuable benefits that make your soil more resilient and productive:

• Support of microorganisms: Plant roots release organic substances, such as sugars and amino acids, into the soil. These are true "meals" for soil microorganisms. These root exudates promote a vibrant, diverse microbial community that is crucial for the nutrient cycle and soil fertility.
  
  
• Improvement of soil structure: The collaboration of roots, microorganisms, and fungi forms stable soil aggregates and turns your soil into a sponge that efficiently stores water. This improves water availability and facilitates the penetration of new roots.
  
  
• Erosion control: Through the above-ground biomass, the soil remains covered, which keeps it and the microorganisms beneath cool and retains more moisture in the soil. This sustainably protects your soil and creates a stable microclimate.
  
  
• Nutrient uptake and nutrient recycling: Living roots continuously absorb nutrients and prevent nutrient losses through leaching. Cover crops, such as legumes, fix nitrogen from the air and enrich the soil with this valuable nutrient.

To keep living roots in the soil throughout the year, you can grow cover crops in the off-season. Perennial crops or grazing systems with deep-rooted grasses are also ideal for permanently maintaining living roots in the soil.

Through these living roots and the interplay with microorganisms and fungi, your soil becomes more stable, fertile, and resilient – a measure you can implement immediately to enhance soil quality.