AgEmerge Podcast 199 with Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge

Soil carbon is not mainly leftover residue, and that changes everything you think you know about building healthier fields. Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge reveals why the real engine of soil organic matter is the life and death of microbes—and why managing the whole underground food web may matter more than chasing a bucket of bugs.

What happens beneath your feet is far more dynamic than most farmers have been told. Jennifer, a soil ecologist whose work spans Yale, Berkeley, and Lawrence Livermore, breaks down why dead microbes, or necromass, make up a massive share of soil carbon, how roots feed the system through exudates, and why diversity above ground creates diversity below ground. If you want to understand how cover crops, reduced tillage, and perennial strips can change water cycling, nutrient availability, and resilience, this conversation connects the dots.

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Hosted by Monte Bottens

Produced by Ag Solutions Network & Power2Gro

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