Speaker: Mike Amaranthus, Ph.D. President MycoAnalytics LLC, Adjunct Associate Professor Oregon State University

Soils serve as tremendous storehouses of the Earth’s carbon, and even a small change in the percent carbon in the soil can significantly impact the maintenance of the Earth’s atmosphere. Up to 36% of the annual global carbon emissions are estimated to be stored in the soil’s mycorrhizal mycelial network. In horticulture systems, there is significant potential for generating a mycelium network on millions of plants and acres. We must manage our relationship with soil and horticulture to produce the plants we need while simultaneously increasing soil fertility, plant quality and by incorporating carbon into the ground. It’s a win-win for horticulture.