Saving Our Soils: Texan Proponents of Regenerative Agriculture and Microalgae to the Rescue
Texas-based AlgEternal and Blackwood Exploring Collaboration to Solve Critical Challenge of Soil Health Using Regenerative Agriculture and Microalgae
AlgEternal is vertically integrated around its patented technology for growing microalgae at scale. Operating as a Conscious Capitalism Company, focused on demonstrating the application of microalgae to solving significant human challenges such as: sustainable and regenerative agriculture; water, air and soil pollution; and climate change. David Ramjohn, CEO of Algeternal, believes that the algae industry is critical to sustainable, ecocentric, circular economic activity while keeping planet Earth hospitable to humans. "Putting photosynthetic microalgae back into soils supports the other microbial communities in soils, which supports all other trophic levels in and on soils;" says Ramjohn; "in ecosystem Jenga, microalgae are the base--remove them and everything else collapses." Ramjohn has always held that soil as a natural resource is under-appreciated and unrecognized, pointing to recent reports that on a global scale we have less than 60 years of topsoil left. According to Ramjohn, "soil lies at the nexus of food, water, and air--fix the soil and we simultaneously fix several major environmental and health challenges facing humans."
In 2000, Cath Conlon established Blackwood Educational Land Institute as a nonprofit organization to remind students of humanity’s intrinsic bond with the land, to teach the interconnectivity of all living things, and to suggest that great things can happen only if we realize that this interdependence extends to our families and our communities as well. Today, Blackwood caters to students of all ages, providing learning opportunities through workshops, camps, the Blackwood Farm School, farm-to-table dinners, field trips, and their annual Harvest Hoedown. "Soil is alive," says Conlon; "it makes perfect sense then to ensure that we have a photosynthetic microorganism living in soils that can produce glucose for the other organisms and perform other critical ecosystem functions."
"David visited us at Blackwood on October 7th, 2019 and then I visited AlgEternal on October 16th, 2019--both events being 'Eureka' moments for me", says Conlon; "the remarkable synergies between what we were both attempting, that is to bring soil back to its natural health to generate the multitude of benefits for food, water, and carbon, were inescapable." Both recognizing their parallel paths, Ramjohn and Conlon decided to explore opportunities for collaboration, with Blackwood looking forward to being a proving ground for Agtivate under Ramjohn's scientific guidance. Mimicking the mutual symbiosis between microalgae and other organisms in soils, this collaboration will see Blackwood benefit from having an all-natural soil amendment in use on their land leading to sustainable increases in yields and quality, and AlgEternal benefit by being able to test several hypotheses and gather independent verification of the function of their microalgae in soils.
In further support of Blackwood's educational mission, Ramjohn will teach a class on soil microalgae as the unknown, unsung heroes of life on terra firma at the the second annual Blackwood Harvest Hoedown on November 9th, 2019. The Harvest Hoedown is a fun, immersive, family-friendly fall festival and farm experience celebrating the bounty of the Texas Gulf Coast Community. In addition to learning about the tremendous, yet largely unknown, roles played by soil microalgae, patrons will enjoy live music, a farmers' market full of local vendors, farmers, and artisans, curated classes and demonstrations from fermentation to chicken and beekeeping, hayrides, delicious food, and much more. AlgEternal will also be giving away samples of their Agtivate Soil Amendment to lucky attendees.
Tickets to the 2019 Harvest Hoedown at the Blackwood Educational Land Institute can be found here: https://blackwoodland.org/hoedownregistration/
The Schedule of Events for the 2019 Harvest Hoedown can be found here: https://blackwoodland.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/hoedownschedule19.jpg
ABOUT ALGETERNAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC:
AlgEternal Technologies uses its patented technology for growing microalgae at scale. Operating as a Conscious Capitalism Company, focused on demonstrating the application of microalgae to solving significant human challenges such as: sustainable/regenerative agriculture; water, air and soil pollution; and climate change. AlgEternal believes that the algae industry is critical to sustainable, ecocentric, circular economic activity while keeping planet Earth hospitable to humans. Learn more at www.algeternal.com; www.agtivate.com; or www.algallure.com. Follow AlgEternal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/algeternal-technologies-llc/; Facebook https://www.facebook.com/algeternal/; Twitter https://twitter.com/algeternal; and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/algeternaltechnologies/.
ABOUT BLACKWOOD EDUCATIONAL LAND INSTITUTE:
Blackwood Educational Land Institute is a non-profit, 33-acre teaching farm perfectly located between Houston, Austin, and College Station. Blackwood’s mission is to model the indispensable role of regenerative agriculture and food systems in all our lives and serve our community through educational programs such as summer camps and field trips. Follow Blackwood on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/blackwoodland/ and on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/blackwoodland/
David Ramjohn
AlgEternal Technologies, LLC
+1 979-208-9933
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WATCH NOW: Algae: Soil Savior? Terrestrial Applications of Microalgae (Presentation at ALgae Biomass Summit 2018) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiwbCGbKn38&t=2s
1 https://www.algeternal.com
2 https://blackwoodland.org/
3 https://www.agtivate.com