As extreme weather and human activity degrade the world's arable land, scientists and developers are looking at new and largely unproven methods to save soil for agriculture.
One company is injecting liquid clay into California desert to trap moisture and help fruit to grow, while another in Malaysia boosts soil with droppings from fly larvae. In a Nova Scotia greenhouse, Canadian scientist Vicky Levesque is adding biochar - the burnt residue of plants and wood waste - to soil to help apples grow better.
Biochar, liquid clay and fly larvae droppings are all in limited commercial production. Development of such solutions has accelerated in recent years as soil degradation worsened, said Ole Kristian Sivertsen, chief executive of liquid clay company Desert Control, the world's biggest seed company, is among the companies looking at new ways of regenerating soil through Leaps by Bayer, its venture capital unit, said Matthias Berninger, Bayer's head of sustainability.
Her research, which started in 2012, has shown that clay soil treated with biochar emitted drastically less nitrous oxide, benefiting the atmosphere and trapping more carbon in the ground where it can boost plant growth. Norway-based Desert Control has spent 18 years and $25 million developing liquid clay to boost soil. Last year, it injected its product into a patch of U.S. desert, where the clay binds with sand to better retain water and nutrients.
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