The Science of EM (Essential Microorganisms) with Dr. Matthew Wood - ISOS S2 #9

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we're talking to one of the pioneers in developing probiotic technology, Dr. Matthew Wood, to shed some light on what efficient microbes (EM) are, what they do to the soil, and how our soils can benefit from adding them.

Dr. Matthew Wood earned his Bachelor's degree in Soil and Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his Master's degree working under Dr. Teruo Higa from the University of Ryukus in Okinawa, Japan. His work in probiotics resulted in global engagements in many fields including microbiology, agriculture, and human health. In 2004, he founded SCD Probiotics where they develop and commercialize consortia fermentation technologies for multiple industries.

More on microbes at SCD Probiotics: https://www.scdprobiotics.com/

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In this episode of In Search of Soil

• Dr. Matthew Wood's interest in the soil sciences (01:40)
• Studying in Japan and working with Dr. Teruo Higa (03:24)
• Notable findings working with Dr. Teruo Higa (04:43)
  • An increase in the diversity index (05:05)
  • Plant-microbe communication (06:53)
• What is EM? (08:35)
• The concept of consortia in the context of microbes (11:25)
• The whole is greater than the sum of individual parts (12:28)
• The question of the purity of cultures (15:11)
• What happens in the transition microbes go through (16:22)
• Cultured microbes adapting to the soil pH (19:25)
• Stimulating the biology in the soil (22:17)
• Observing a single microorganism would yield different findings versus observed together with other microorganisms (25:45)
• What EM will do to the microfauna in your local soil (28:35)
  • A potential reason why EM hasn't been adopted widely (30:30)
  • An article about classifying soils based on which microbes were dominant in the system (31:22)
• How long before seeing the long-term changes made by EM (32:57)
• SCD Probiotics approach: biochemical products that act like chemicals
  • Breaking the business: industrial, agricultural, consumer (35:57)
• Culturing out mother cultures and lowering the cost per application (38:29)
• Dr. Matthew Woods' SCD product recommendations to start with (39:51)
• Using beneficial microorganisms as foliar feed (43:00)
• Ways that beneficial microbes push out pathogenic microbes (44:11)
• The worry of whether the beneficial microbes will live or die after applying them to a system (46:42)
• What EM's major groups of microbes do for the soil (48:44)
• Adding a mother culture to a compost pile (51:29)
• Beneficial microbes neutralizing foul odors (54:48)
• Sharing the built-up localized bacteria base (55:33)
• Dr. Teruo Higa: It's not the presence of the pathogen that causes the problem, it's the high population of the pathogen that does. (57:17)
• Can you go overboard with adding mother culture to your soil? (59:06)
• Using a mother culture to re-energize depleted soils (01:00:35)