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NW IL | Yes! All living things require energy. Calories, metabolism, life processes, etc. If it's alive it needs energy to grow. Yes, nutrition is part of it, but a mix of minerals doesn't come to life without outside energy.
There are 2 place on earth to get energy naturally. Heat (ocean floor vents) and the sun. Everything else comes from those sources. Covers are another way to collect more energy and incorporate it into the system. The challenge for us farmers is figuring out how to get that energy cycled back into the system in ways that are most beneficial to our cash crops. To keep the analogy going, how to get the power from the solar panels into the house, or into a battery system that is easy to access. Generally speaking, the "energy" is often "stored" in the bodies of soil biology that consume root exudates throughout the winter and off season, break down other old plant material, and mine minerals from the soil matrix. The part we are all still learning is how to best take that stored anergy (now in the soil biology) and get it passed along to the cash crops.
Not saying we don't need to use fertilizer, but our plants also are not growing in a sterile hydroponic system either.
Lots of progress is being made, but there is still much to learn. Living systems are complicated.
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How are we ALL not mining our soils?
