The image above was taken at one of the properties that I recently looked at while property hunting in Portugal.  They had some odd vegetation growing but for the most part was, mistake number one, plowed (tilled) land, mistake number two bare land, and mistake number three monoculture crops.

I consider myself very new on this subject, in fact I’m still a virgin in this field but in the short time that I have studied soil health and regeneration I can say without a doubt that I know more than people who have been farming for years simply because they got stuck in a rut and their old beliefs that are proving detrimental to our planet and our health.

What striked me the most, apart from the kilometers and kilometers of burnt forest land was the dire state of the soils.  Irrespective of the location, be it in the south where conditions are not favourable, to the Guarda/Viseu (more central bordering on the northern parts) where soils are ‘supposedly’ expected to be better. I saw nothing but dry sandy soil desperately lacking organic matter and microbial life. This was not soil, it was dirt.  Due to years of plowing, tillage, monocroping and lack of cover crops during the ‘dead seasons’.

Olive trees and grape vines are in abundance, fields and fields of vines and yet more vines. What saddens me was seeing the results of ‘old school’ agriculture.  Farmers that have been farming for many years are stuck in their old thinking.  Just because something has always been done in a certain way does not mean that it is the best and most cost effective way.

Ask any farmer what is the first thing they do when they start working land and I guaranteed you it will be to plow the land.  Next will be to plant their cashcrop which has been done repeatedly on the same depleted soil, and next will be the host of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.