Root development with GR42

GR42 has been tested on seasonal crops in India. Two fallow fields were used in the test and only seeded with pioneer plants.

The results were analysed 12 weeks after the rainy season:

The grass in the ‘control field’ developed to “normal standards” with an average small root which gradually turned brown in colour (a sign it was drying out).

Whereas the field using GR42 produced grass, three times higher with roots four times larger and healthier than the roots in the ‘control field’.

It is also important to note that during this testing period no additional water was given to either field.

The test results in India further supported the outcome seen from a test site in Australia (the Gateway Project) where GR42 was used. In this instance the number of trees increased from 20% to 80%.

The extremely strong root growth, in all plants grown with GR42, resulted in stable growth and high harvest. The soil is consolidated, which counteracts soil erosion, and increases the absorption of nutrients and water. In addition, with the help of roots a nutrient-poor soil becomes a larger microbiological culture medium.

Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the act of farming, based on an understanding of ecosystem services; the study of relationships between organisms and their environment. It has been defined as "an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will last over the long term", for example:

Sustainable agriculture can be understood as an ecosystem approach to agriculture. Practices that can cause long-term damage to soil include excessive tilling of the soil (leading to erosion) and irrigation without adequate drainage (leading to salinisation). Long-term experiments have provided some of the best data on how various practices affect soil properties essential to sustainability.

The most important factors for an individual site are sun, air, soil, nutrients, and water. Of the five, water and soil quality and quantity are most amenable to human intervention through time and labour. Although air and sunlight are available everywhere on Earth, crops also depend on soil nutrients and the availability of water.

When farmers grow and harvest crops, they remove some of these nutrients from the soil. Without replenishment, land suffers from nutrient depletion and becomes either unusable or produces reduced yields. Sustainable agriculture depends on replenishing the soil while minimising the use or need of non-renewable resources, such as natural gas (used in converting atmospheric nitrogen into synthetic fertiliser), or mineral ores (e.g., phosphate). Possible sources of nitrogen that would, in principle, be available indefinitely, include:

Crops that require high levels of soil nutrients can be cultivated in a more sustainable manner if fertiliser management practices are adhered to.

Nationwide food producers require vast amounts of land and soil to produce food at an accelerated rate. This diminishes the nutrients in the soil and decimates the idea of sustainable agriculture, which is best built through local, regional agricultural methods.

In some areas sufficient rainfall is available for crop growth, but many other areas require irrigation. For irrigation systems to be sustainable, they require proper management (to avoid salinisation) and must not use more water from their source than is naturally replenishable, otherwise, the water source effectively becomes a non-renewable resource.

Improvements in water well drilling technology and submersible pumps, combined with the development of drip irrigation and low-pressure pivots, have made it possible to regularly achieve high crop yields in areas where reliance on rainfall alone had previously made successful agriculture unpredictable.

Several steps must be taken to develop drought-resistant farming systems even during "normal" years experiencing average rainfall.

A rough estimate shows that if water withdrawal exceeds a quarter of global renewable water resources of a country, water can be considered a limiting factor to development and, reciprocally, the pressure on water resources can have a direct impact on all sectors, from agriculture to environment and fisheries.