After German chemist Fritz Haber figured out how to make synthetic nitrogen in the early 1900s, the development of agricultural chemicals took off.

They came with the promise of higher yields and the ability to control weeds and pests, but no one suspected there would be a downside.

That downside was a lack of biological activity in the soil, said David Little, an agronomist and owner of Sustainable Earth Paradigm, a company that promotes soil health.

“As we make that transition from chemical, conventional farming to sustainable farming, there’s a process and a balance that we have to try to be able to achieve,” he said during a soil health workshop hosted by the Cassia and Minidoka Soil and Water Conservation Districts in south-central Idaho.

Instead of simply providing the nutrients to the plant, organic farmers want to treat the soil like a living biological system, he said.

“Feed the soil and enable the soil to feed the plant and it becomes bio-sustainable,” he said.

But you have to build the house for the microbiology to work, he said.

That means providing a food source, providing organics, providing a home for the insects, worms and microbiology — the life that’s in the soil, he said.

“You want to feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants,” he said.

Everything farmers do comes with a positive and negative impact. Tilling, for example, has many benefits. But it also causes soil compaction, erosion and a loss of moisture.

“We’ve got to mitigate the negative influences of our practices. That’s part of being a good steward of the Earth,” he said.

The balance comes in understanding the negative impacts. Often, people think of balance as just two things, one verses another, he said.

But “to every challenge in the balance of soil health, there is more than one solution,” he said.

“We’ve got to keep live roots in our soil, keep our soil covered,” he said.

Numerous farming practices impact the physical, chemical and biological properties in the soil, he said.

“Homeostasis in the soil is the natural balance of soil functions. … It starts with good soil health, which is dependent on organic matter and living roots in the soil continuously,” he said.

A microbiome is the environment in which the biology works. If there’s no organic matter and there’s no place for microbes to build a home or there’s no food for microbes, they’re not going to survive, he said.

Micro-organisms can reproduce quickly, but they’ve got to have the right environment to live and reproduce and grow, and they’ve got to have enough air and water, he said.

“The reason that biology even exists in the soil is to cycle nutrients for the plant. That’s its whole function, he said.

Homeostasis comes down to three components — physical, chemical and biological, he said.

“So if we can pay attention to the physical health of our soil, the chemical balance in our soil and the biological health in our soil, then we can balance or achieve homeostasis and enable that plant to reach its highest potential naturally,” he said.