[Terrapreta] acres USA terra preta article

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Terra Preta: Magic Soil of the Lost Amazon
by Allan Balliett, Acres USA, February 2007

It's like finding a lost chapter from Peter Tompkins and Christopher 
Bird's Secrets of the Soil—terra preta (literally "black earth") is a 
manmade soil of prehistoric origin that is higher in nitrogen, 
phosphorus, potassium and calcium than adjacent soils. It controls 
water and reduces leaching of nutrients from the rhizosphere. Rich in 
humus, pieces of pre-Columbian unfired clay pottery, and black carbon, 
it's like a "microbial reef" that promotes and sustains mycorrhizae 
growth and other beneficial microbes, and it has been shown to retain 
its fertility for thousands of years. In university trials, terra 
preta has increased crop yields by up to 800%. It regrows itself when 
excavated. It is even possible to produce carbon-negative useable 
energy (such as diesel or hydrogen) while making the major input (bio-
char) for terra. preta on the farm.

If these amazing properties haven't convinced you that terra preta is 
important to eco-agriculture, then consider this: experts say that 
terra preta sequesters carbon at such a high rate that, in the near 
future, farming with this technique could be eligible for lucrative 
carbon credits.

Perhaps most amazing, though, is the fact that, unlike many if not 
most of the eco-ag technologies reported in Secrets of the Soil, the 
incredible properties of terra preta are not denied by myopic 
academics. In fact, almost everything we know about. terra preta is 
coming from university studies!

Much is still unknown about terra preta and "Amazonian Dark Earths;” 
but as the key component of a proposed agricultural system that would 
both feed starving populations and solve global warming, .grant money 
is coming in to fuel university investigations of the technology. For 
every unanswered question on terra preta, there appears to already be 
a funded study underway.

TERRA PRETA DEFINED

Terra preta do indio is a black, earthlike, anthropogenic (manmade) 
soil with enhanced fertility due to high levels of soil organic matter 
(SOM) and nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, arid 
calcium embedded in a landscape of infertile soils. Terra preta soils 
occur in small patches averaging 20 hectares (50 acres), but 350 
hectare (865 acre) sites have also been reported. These 2,000-year-old 
manmade soils occur in the Brazilian Amazon basin and other regions of 
South America. Terra preta soils are very popular with the local 
farmers and are used especially to produce cash crops such as papaya 
and mango, which grow about three times as rapidly as on surrounding 
infertile soils.

South American terra preta soils are also full of pieces (sherds) of 
unfired pottery. It is generally believed that the pottery was 
introduced into the soil much as modern growers add perlite or sand to 
potting mix, as a way of keeping the soil from baking completely tight 
under the tropical sun before a cover of vegetation could grow over 
it. Much is made of these sherds as "proof" that terra preta deposits 
are really prehistoric trash piles, but Charles C. Mann asserts there 
are indications that much of this pottery was actually made 
specifically for incorporation into the soil.
Associated with terra preta is terra mulata, soils which are lighter 
than terra preta and tend not to contain cultural artifacts but are 
said to have similar qualities. 

Terra preta soils are found near historic settlements, while terra 
mulata soils are found where agricultural fields were once located. It 
is assumed that the village-related terra preta is darker because it 
received continual inputs of household wastes (including humanure), 
and terra mulata fields were amended chiefly with bio-char, initially 
created by burning forest cover and later by slow-burning brush, weeds 
and crop wastes. Because of their overall similarities, terra 
preta .and terra mulata are often grouped under the title "Amazonian 
Dark Earths" (ADE).

William Devan, a geologist from the University of Wisconsin who is 
prominent in. terra preta research, offers these comments: "The black 
terra preta is associated with long-enduring Indian village sites, and 
is filled with ceramics, animal and fish bones, and other cultural 
debris. The brown terra mulata, on the other hand, is much more 
extensive, generally surrounds the black midden soils, contains few 
artifacts, and apparently is the result of semi-intensive cultivation 
over long periods. Both forms are much more fertile than the 
surrounding highly weathered reddish soil, mostly oxisol, and they 
have generally sustained this fertility to the present despite the 
tropical climate and despite frequent or periodic cultivation. This is 
probably because of high carbon content and an associated high 
microbial activity which is self perpetuating:

Ironically, information about the agricultural value of terra preta is 
only emerging now because of a paradigm shift among archaeologists 
that has re-evaluated the role of indigenous people (AmerIndians) in 
the pre-Columbian Americas. Put simply, before contact, there were 
heavy populations of indigenous people in the Americas, in fact, until 
the mid-16th century, some of the world's largest and most sanitary 
cities were in the Americas. Pre-Columbian Indians made great 
achievements in architecture, art and agriculture. Not only did they 
breed many of the economically important plants of to day's world 
(corn, sunflower, beans, potato, sweet potato, tomato, peanut, 
avocado, tobacco and cotton), but they also developed incredibly 
productive methods of agriculture such as raised beds and "three 
sisters." As Jerry Brunetti has pointed out, the rate of production of 
calories by Iroquois agriculture at the time of the New England 
settlement was unimaginable to Europeans. Not only 
did the Iroquois Nation produce high-value foods, they were also able 
to produce enough of it to ensure two to three years' worth of food in 
storage at any given time!

What AmerIndians lacked, unfortunately, was resistance to European 
diseases. Hard to believe as it is, pre-contact Amerindians apparently 
had no human-to-human diseases, with possible exception of syphilis. 
According to Charles C. Mann, they didn't even have the common cold 
until Europeans arrived. Several waves of deadly diseases (such as 
small pox and measles) swept through America after Columbus' first 
visit, spread not only by subsequent European explorers, but, after 
contact, by AmerIndians themselves through their well established, 
hemisphere-wide, socially motivated trade routes.

By the mid-1500s, most indigenous Americans had died from epidemics. 
Undermined by pain, suffering, superstition and loss of leadership 
(many important Incan leaders died of European diseases, including the 
most powerful, which opened the door for Pizarro's conquest of this 
powerful empire), AmerIndian society began to collapse. Urban 
populations could not be fed, and cities were abandoned. In the stone-
free
 
Terra Preta Q&A

Why did production of terra preta stop after European contact? 

Although decimation of Amazonian population and collapse of elaborate 
social systems that supported terra preta creation (to make all that 
pottery and all that charcoal, and incorporate it up to 2 feet in the 
ground really does take a village) was a contributing factor, it was 
undoubtedly the introduction of the steel axe by the Spanish that, in 
combination with the impact of contact, led to slash-and-burn by small 
bands replacing slash-and-char by large groups. When clearing land 
with a stone axe, a conservation of all biomass and an intensification 
of soil production becomes a necessity. Steel axes—and, later, 
chainsaws—contributed to exploiting the very short-term benefits of 
ash. It must be remembered that traditional methods can die out in a 
single generation, and that in Amazonian social structure, the elders 
were responsible for all technical knowledge. It makes sense that the 
elders were hardest hit by epidemics, and loss of their cultural 
knowledge combined with soc
ial disruption led to the replacement of a deeply effective technology 
with a less-effective mimicry.

Did natives use special microbial brews to innoculate the soil to 
create terra preta?

There is no proof that a "mother" culture was used for starting terra 
preta. Current research indicates that the incorporation of charcoal 
of certain qualities (created in relatively low heat, for example) in 
combination with appropriate initial fertilization (often, in 
university tests, with conventional fertilizers that are damaging to 
soil life) will produce a substantial increase in yields. It is 
assumed that the char provides such an effective habitat for microbes 
that effective communities will rapidly develop within most soils. 
What we don't know yet is whether the simulated terra preta will have 
the ability to maintain its fertility for as long as the ancient form.

Has terra preta been discovered outside of the Amazon?

Yes, high-carbon terra preta-like dark soils were discovered in Japan, 
Holland, South Africa and Indonesia and are currently being studied.

Can carbon inputs other than charcoal be used?

The Japanese are extensively investigating the use of coal dust for 
promoting field fertility. Coal dust does seem to reproduce many of 
the positive effects of wood charcoal. The research of Siegfried 
Marian on the benefits of carbon incorporation, as reported in Leonard 
Ridzon and Charles Walters' The Carbon Connection and The Carbon 
Cycle, led to the development of Ridzon's NutriCarb product (no longer 
being produced), which claimed agricultural benefits very similar to 
those claimed for terra preta . Those who want to use coal dust for 
soil fertility need to make certain that the dust is from brown coal, 
which is more humic, and that the coal does not contain toxins.

Why is terra preta linked to alternate energy & climate change?

Terra preta is a carbon sink, as is most carbon in the soil. Slash-and-
burn agriculture contributes greatly to global warming. If terra preta 
technologies were applied to tropical farming, less land would have to 
be cleared for farming, and if farmers in temperate zones such as the 
Midwest incorporated charcoal or other chars into their soil, more 
carbon could be sequestered. If' this char is produced by appropriate 
technology, such as pyrolysis, both fuel and a "restorative, high-
carbon fertilizer" can be produced. This process does not require wood—
it is just as effective when agricultural wastes, such as peanut 
shells, are used as input. A good place to learn about this technology 
is at www.eprida.com.

How much charcoal needs to be incorporated?

In published reports on pot tests of the effect of charcoal on plant 
growth, incorporation at 20-30 percent by weight tended to 
consistently produce the most benefit. In row crops, this would 
translate to 30 percent by weight of the top 6 inches.

Are there benefits for plant health from terra preta?

Better plant growth and health is evident with use of native terra 
preta. Current investigations are primarily conducted by 
archaeologists, geologists and soil scientists. There is no evidence 
of terra preta studies by an agriculturist, but positive reports from 
growers suggest eco-farmers are well advised to investigate terra 
preta technology.
 
Amazon, this meant that metropolises built of wood and soil were 
absorbed by the jungle at such a rate that areas reported by the first 
explorer as heavily populated with massive structures were, just 50 
years later, reported as jungle wildernesses populated by small bands 
of scraggly natives.
The bottom line for mainstream archeological interpretation of the 
history of the Amazon was based on the assumption that the area was 
a "counterfeit paradise:' with all of its nutrients locked into its 
canopy, leaving soils poor, acidic and toxic. 

Although terra preta was described to academic America as early as 
1870, rich soils in the Amazon were considered an anomaly, the result 
of prehistoric lakes or hydrological accidents. (An enjoyable period 
view of the value of Amazon agricultural land is found in an 1867 book 
entitled Brazil: Home for Southerners, by Confederate expatriate 
Ballard S. Dunn, which lauds the high fertility of Brazil's Amazonian 
dark soil among other aspects of "planter life" in Brazil; available 
online in its entirety at www. books.google.com ).

Caught in a "believing is seeing" syndrome, archeologists assumed that 
because typical Amazonian soils were thin and infertile, large 
populations could never have existed there. Accepting this assumption, 
they saw no point in looking for evidence of settlement. Betty J. 
Meggers, the Smithsonian archaeologist, said, "The apparent lushness 
of the rainforest is a sham. The soils are poor and can't hold 
nutrients—the jungle flora exists only because it snatches up 
everything worthwhile before it leaches away in the rain. Agriculture, 
which depends on extracting the wealth of the soil, therefore faces 
inherent ecological limitations in the wet desert of Amazonia:

Views are changing, however, and a new school of archaeologists, 
geologists and soil scientists have asserted that the Amazon was in 
fact heavily populated and that the fertility of terra preta was what 
made feeding these large groups of people possible. 

Although many questions remain unanswered, this new school of Amazon 
investigators feels that there is substantial physical proof that not 
only was the Amazon rainforest home of very large populations 
supported by an effective agriculture based on the robust fertility of 
the manmade terra preta soils, but also that the Amazon forest itself 
is better thought of as a manmade landscape.

It is important to note that the good news about terra preta isn’t 
news about the physical soils in Brazil. Although soils are illegally 
mined and sold as potting mix and soil amendments in Brazil and 
Bolivia, native terra preta isn’t accessible to U.S. growers. Because 
they are filled with pre-Columbian artifacts, and are associated with 
archaeological sites that have yet to be fully investigated, terra 
preta can’t be purchased or imported.

The current goal of scientists studying terra preta is to learn what 
it is and how it works so it can be replicated anywhere in the world. 
The focus of most work, however, isn’t on benefiting small farm 
American agriculture, but how to make more fertile land available in 
tropical South America and Africa, along with an interest in carbon 
sequestration. The time is ripe for innovative eco-growers and 
agricultural researchers to explore the benefits of the magic soil 
from a lost world.

Allan Balliett, biodynamic farmer and educator, operates a CSA serving 
families in the Washington, D.C. metro area; founded and moderates 
BDNow! international progressive biodynamic food and farm listserv; 
can be reached at 
Fresh and Local CSA
P.O. Box 3047
Shepherdstown, WV 25443
phone 304-876-3382
email allan at FreshAndLocaICSA.com
website www.freshandlocalcsa.com
 
Terra Preta de Indio
http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/lehmann/terra_preta/TerraPretahome.h
tm
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