The Intelligent Soil: Restoring Fertility, Plant Health and Resilience - Paperback

by Amanda Liles-Abiven (Translator), Francis Bucaille (Author)

A Scientific and Practical Reframing of Soil Health, Fertilization, and Agronomic Decision-Making
What if most agronomic recommendations fail not because they are wrong - but because they are incomplete?
This book challenges mainstream agronomic dogma while delivering practical, field-ready knowledge that allows practitioners to:
Diagnose soil constraints directly in the field, interpret plant and weed signals, design coherent fertilization programs, choose and optimize fertilizers, minerals, composts, and organic amendments
What You'll Learn Inside
✔ How to diagnose soils beyond laboratory tests: observation and interpretation of soil profiles, and extract biological, physical, chemical, and hydrological information to make informed decisions on tillage, fertilization, and irrigation practices..
✔ How to build fertilization programs that make sense
Move beyond NPK recipes and learn how calcium, magnesium, trace elements, silica, and organic matter interact to control nutrient efficiency and crop health.
✔ How to use practical biotests
Discover accessible, quick and on-farm biological tests - root response, residue decomposition, crop reactions, evaluation of impacts of fertilizers and pesticides on soil biology - to evaluate fertilizers, composts, and amendments before and after application.
✔ Why common agronomic assumptions often fail: no-till is not a universal solution, "nitrogen hunger" is frequently allelopathic not microbial, pH alone is a poor guide for soil amendment, Ca/Mg balance on the CEC matters more than pH targets, Carbon sequestration depends on microbial balance, not on fresh organic matter inputs.
✔ How to read weeds as diagnostic indicators
Understand adventice populations as biological signals revealing deficiencies, excesses, structural issues, and biochemical imbalances in soils.
Who This Book Is For
Farmers seeking autonomy and understanding
Agronomic consultants and crop advisors
Soil scientists and advanced practitioners
Anyone frustrated with prescriptive, one-size-fits-all agronomy
If you want to diagnose soils instead of treating symptoms, and build fertilization strategies based on understanding rather than belief, The Intelligent Soil will change the way you think about agronomy.