Did you Know?

Top Soil Rich in Georgia?
Spring Valley EcoFarms has about 3 acres of old growth forest, where the soil has never been tilled. The photo of the soil pit (right) that exposes the soil horizon in the forest show about a foot of "a horizon", that is top soil rich in soil organic matter. That is the soil that the first settlers encountered in Georgia, and used to raise cotton. It is the "natural capital" that was transformed to "economic capital", and was the infrastructure of the cotton economy. After more than a century of tillage, all that is left in the original cotton fields is the subsoil, red clay that is so low in fertility that it can be productive only with intensive fertilization. Research at Spring Valley EcoFarms is looking at ways to restore the topsoil while at the same time yielding economic crops.