Salinity in agricultural soils is becoming a commonplace and costly problem for farmers worldwide. In the USA alone, it is estimated there is an $11 billion agricultural loss annually due to high salt levels in soils.
The problem is expanding in both severity and acreage due to intensive farming methods, the increased use of agricultural chemicals, reduction in available irrigation water and water that itself is becoming brackish, as well as the presence of toxic pollutants in the environment.
Salinity problems and degraded soils reduce productivity on both irrigated and non-irrigated agricultural lands throughout the world and pose increasing challenges for agriculture, wildlife, water quality and biodiversity. Minimizing soil salinity and reclaiming agricultural land from high salt levels is of critical importance.
After an extensive review of available literature, we can find no successful methodology for desalination of soils or water. All previous attempts we found at removal of polluting substances rely on one of two methods:
- removal of the pollutant and the carrier, such as physical removal of contaminated soils to another location, thereby not solving the problem but moving it to a different location; and
- diluting and attempting to flush the pollutant with massive quantities of water, often using an additional chemical, thereby once again simply moving the problem “downstream” now laced with even more toxins, and increasing the use of already scarce water.
Decades of research and trialling solutions for soil salinity have been carried out by the Eureka Institute in Italy, under the guidance of Enzo Nastati. Now, solutions to soil salinity are available in the Trinium products, under the trade name Widdar, and the methodology of broader agricultural techniques. Viva la Vida Foundation is the sole distributor of the Widdar methods and products in North America.
All agricultural methods and products made by Eureka Institute are inspired by the development and the evolution of the impulses given in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner for a new agriculture. The main objectives of the Trinium agricultural method are:
- Increase the fertility of the soil;
- Increase the health and harmony of the plant with a subsequent qualitative and quantitative increase of agricultural production;
- No use of chemical products, polluting or toxic products, and therefore, the protection of the environment.
To bring back harmony and health to soils, the Trinium method utilizes agricultural methodologies that consider the characteristics and needs of the soil and of the plants. These methodologies include the use of preparations in a clay base which are carefully prepared using techniques of homeopathy. In short, the products we use to address salty soil problems help heal the soils so that the salts can be digested and humus-building capacities within the soil can be enlivened.
