[Paul C. Jesup]

The search for El Dorado in the Amazonian rainforest might not have yielded pots of gold, but it has led to unearthing a different type of gold mine: some of the globe's richest soil that can transform poor soil into highly fertile ground.

How interesting, I remember a decade ago how the enviromentalists stated that the soil in the Amazon jungle was to poor in nutrients for farming crops.

[Moonman62]

It is very poor in its natural state, but these patches of black earth are man made and thousands of years old.

[kaotic133]

[i]How interesting, I remember a decade ago how the enviromentalists stated that the soil in the Amazon jungle was to poor in nutrients for farming crops.[/i]

And if I recall correctly, this was discovered by someone who was trying to study how such an advanced civilization could have ever thrived there prior to Spanish invasion. . .

I think it was some sort of bacteria in the soil, and the ancient civilization knew how to cultivate the bacteria. One truckful they said, could be spread around an acre, and with a few years the entire acre would be the new type of bacterially infested soil.

Then they did the yield tests, and the bacteria treated (but otherwise poor) rainforest soil out-performed all the other modern fertilizers.


There is a good chance this ancient technology will have a profound impact on future economics!