THE lack of rainfall over the last 12 weeks has been extremely challenging for farmers, breeders, horse trainers and racecourses.

The irrigation of farm land, gallops and racetracks has become the norm and the land has been so dry recently, the water disappears like throwing a cup of water into a bucket of sand.

As I write this the first real quantity of rain has fallen over night. I took measurements on Tuesday night after the downpour and 32mm of rain fell between 11pm Tuesday and 8am on Wednesday. We can condition our soils to cope with these unpredictable weather patterns.

The main problem we see on farms is that the root systems of grass and crops are not growing deep enough in the soil and during drought conditions they are not able to access the moisture. We need to go away from farming and feeding the top three inches and get the soil working from within.

SOBAC Bacteriosol can help negate against the effects of drought and help the fields recover quicker. The key is the formation of humus.

Tom Stapleton of Soil Ireland

Organic soil

SOBAC is a French company based in the south of France specialising in organic soil amendments. SOBAC came to Ireland back in 2012 in partnership with P&T Stapleton Limited. It was developed by Marcel Mezy, a French farmer, in the 1980s. SOBAC’s products Bacteriolit and Bacteriosol are made up of a complex of micro-organisms which improves the level of micro-life in the soil, allowing the soil to fulfil its full natural cycle. The more humus you have in your soil, the more minerals you will fix and prevent from leaching.

This soil has had two applications of Sobac's Bacteriosoil. Roots depth is considerably greater than before

The same field before Sobac Bacteriosoil was applied. Root depth is far less significant

SOBAC works for the health of our soil. A living soil is a healthy soil, and its humus content is the primary sign of that. While decades of chemicals, erosion and adverse weather have degraded soils all over the country, SOBAC’s products Bacteriolit and Bacteriosol have proved that it is possible to give them back their fertility by boosting their humus content. As Mézy himself often says, when humus goes away, humans go away. Humus is the natural storage capacity of the soil and it is more important than ever that we are looking after our soil.

SOBAC’s products work for the overall health of our soil, and the results speak for themselves. In livestock farming, SOBAC’s solutions focus on the relationship between soil, plants and animals, to produce high-quality forage, beneficial to both animal health and product quality.

For crops, they substantially reduce, or even eliminate, the use of fertilisers and pesticides to enhance the nutritive quality of the products, boosting both quality and yield while respecting the environment.

The overall concept provides real solutions for the sustainability of farms. There currently exists no other way of producing humus as fast, in as many types of soils and weather conditions. SOBAC is committed to implementing a new form of agriculture that is productive and environmentally friendly, whereby farmers regain their freedom and their pride in being farmers “for the soil for a long time”.

Animals get more from the forage in the field than they do from the bought in bag. Humus is the natural storage capacity of the soil and the humic micro-organisms transform organic matter into humus. Humus has the ability to store water.

Humus is the evolution of organic matter; organic matter can evolve in two ways – either into humus or rot. We significantly improve the root depth which also helps the plants to be less stressed during drought conditions.