Photo courtesy of John Chater
Soil ain’t dirt.
It takes microbes and men—the magic between them—to turn common dirt into uncommon soil.
“Symphony of Soil,” a film by director Deborah Coons Garcia that will screen at Fresno State on March 23, documents the fertility and life-sustaining properties of soil. It is a resource that humans, its beneficiaries and its destroyers, often taken for granted.
“People that tend to be far removed from the soil don’t understand that it’s a precious resource,” Garcia said. “We need to appreciate healthy soil and give back. We can’t just keep taking from it and taking from it.”
Soil, unlike dirt, supports a complex system of organic life. Microorganisms, plants and animal life benefit from rich soil systems, the only source of nutrient-rich food.
“Ground-up rocks deposit minerals in the soil to make soil what it is,” said Tom Willey of T&D Willey farms in Madera, one of the states’ premier organic vegetable growers. “It’s eroded and washed down, and makes the soil a rich place for food to grow.”
Willey, who regards Garcia as a brilliant filmmaker, says society finds itself more and more removed from the smell and taste of soil.
“Agriculture is such a big part of our lives,” Willey said. “But so few of us are still involved in farming.”
Garcia’s last film, “The Future of Food,” chronicled the monopolization of the corporate food industry on seed supply and genetically engineered food products. “Symphony of Soil” is a follow-up.
“The first film was well-received,” Garcia said. “I wanted to follow up to ‘Future of Food’ in the same realm. It’s a fascinating topic.”
She said organic farming, the antithesis of the corporate food culture, is a crucial step in the direction of getting the world’s food industry back on the right track.
“With so much consolidation happening in the corporate food industry, minerals are depleted in our food supply,” Garcia said. “You can see the effects of that in our society. So many health problems arise from poor nutrition, which relates directly back to the soil.”
The San Joaquin Valley’s role in farm production is a unique one. Three of the top five producing farm counties in the nation are here. The soil’s productivity depends on how local farmers care for it.
“The San Joaquin Valley has very fertile soil,” Sharon Benes, a plant science professor at Fresno State, said. “We receive lots of sunlight and there is a lot of knowledge going into cultivation and production.”
One of the main points Garcia touches on in “Symphony of Soil” is the rate of soil depletion in today’s industrial, pesticide-dependent farming society. The loss of farmable soil, an ever-increasing problem in modern times, occurs at a rapidly growing rate.
“As a society, we’re paving over agricultural land one acre a minute,” Garcia said of the issue. “Not all soil is equally fertile. We can’t find rich soil just anywhere in the world.”
The San Joaquin Valley’s soil faces erosion, which accounts for the loss of some soil nutrients.
“We do live in a flat valley, but we still experience loss of soil particles,” Benes said. “Wind erosion, as well as rain erosion, can cause nutrient depletion. We have to continue to add carbon to the soil in the form of manures and crop residue as well.”
Garcia stressed that cultivation of the soil, a basic tenet of civilization, was emphasized in early societies.
“Early religions cultivated an appreciation of the soil,” Garcia said. “People were taught to be aware of the earth, that soil was alive, that the soil makes food and the environment healthier.”
The film is being screened across the country in a first-draft format that Garcia is calling “Sonatas of Soil.” “It’s a stunning film,” Willey said. “It travels all over the world and shows how soil evolves from rock. In every way, it’s beautifully done.”
The screening at Fresno State is scheduled for March 23 in the Satellite Student Union at 7 p.m.