292: Jake Mowrer on Crop Roots

292: Jake Mowrer on Crop Roots.

Appreciating the relationship between plant roots and the life in the soil.

Jake was raised on a farm in north Georgia where his family produced broiler chickens and beef cattle. Growing up, the work was often hard, but the food was always good. Life on the farm is a good way to gain an appreciation for the connectivity of food production in our daily lives. Jake now works with farmers in Texas as a Texas A&M faculty member in the Soil and Crop Science Department, and as an Extension Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension to communicate the importance of managing soil as a natural resource.

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His research has become focused on the way that crop roots behave in their soil environment to better understand the best practices for keeping soils continuously functional & productive, both for people and the ecosystems we inhabit.

In This Podcast:

We meet Jake Mowrer and understand what brought him to his studies on soil and the relationships between crop roots and the complex community of life in the world beneath us. This often-invisible world is so essential to the foods that we eat, and the interaction between the subterranean portion of crops and the microbial lifeforms there are easily overlooked. We learn more about what is happening between these elements and why this is crucial to our semi-finite resource of soil.

Listen in and learn about:

Growing up on a farm in a family of six boys
Appreciating the energy that goes into the food cycle and produce enough food for a family of eight
Turning 18 and walking away from farming
His time as a chef and learning about how to elevate foods,
His interest in how to elevate common foods without spending a lot of money
Why he wants to elevate foods and why that makes a difference, and how he does that
Getting hurt while working as a carpenter, then going to work using his science degree
Working at Texas A&M in the soil testing department, then pursuing his masters and PhD
Moving into teaching and loving it
Soil as a scientist and why he does not need it to be clarified as “dirt”
The makeup of soil, and how it is the largest reservoir of microbial biodiversity on the planet
Soil is not renewable except on a geologic timescale
Why and how to protect soil
The time it takes to lose soil versus the time it takes to re-make it
Cover crops as any crop that is used to help keep roots in the soil and protect it from wind loss
Some of the various qualities and benefits of different cover crops
Tap roots versus grass roots
The processes of different roots up-taking nutrients and the living cycle in the soil
What happens to nutrients when roots die
Soil humus as an important resource
The layers of soil life that create a buffer for the complex microbiological community
Communication or feedback between roots and soil
The relationship between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus and plant roots and
How it is mutually beneficial

As well as:

His failure – Being a perfectionist and expecting a lot from others and himself, to the point of not having fun
His success – His children – musicians, artists, mathematicians, budding scientists who are very thoughtful people
His drive – Wanting to make a difference and conducting himself in a way that will have a positive impact
His advice – Pay attention when you eat food, when you grow food; and Call it what you want – just play with the dirt