Beyond Organic: How Fungi Can Rebuild Dead Fields

You can call it worn out, depleted, or biologically bankrupt—but the truth is, most conventionally tilled fields are just dead. White salt patches. Crusted-over soil. Parts of fields that don’t even grow weeds anymore.  If you’ve reached that point, there are no more band-aids. You need something that can rebuild the foundation. That’s where arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF) and beneficial bacteria come in.

While the organic label focuses on what you avoid—no synthetic chemicals, no GMOs—fungi focus on what you rebuild. In a dead field, that means life. Real, microscopic, soil-based life. And that’s what makes the difference between soil that feeds a crop and dirt that drains your budget.

What Kills a Field?

Years of tillage, salt-based fertilizers, anhydrous application, repeated herbicide and fungicide applications, and compaction don’t just reduce fertility—they destroy soil biology. The living network of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and protozoa is either killed off or starved. What’s left is inert.

In these soils:

• Nutrient cycling slows or stops entirely(often the case, creating “drug” addicted plants)
  
• Organic matter declines
  
• Water infiltration drops
  
• Microbial diversity collapses
  

You can pour on more fertilizer, more water, and more seed. But if the soil isn’t alive, your crops are on life support. And your ROI gets worse every season and you become more dependent upon chemicals and weather.

Why Mycorrhizal Fungi Are the First Step Back

Of all the organisms that once lived in your field, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are some of the most critical. These fungi form relationships with most plants, extending their roots with hyphae that pull in nutrients, improve water uptake, and support plant health.

In dead soils, reintroducing mycorrhizal fungi has a cascading effect:

• It restarts root-soil communication
  
• It unlocks nutrients bound in the soil matrix
  
• It creates structure by producing glomalin, a sticky substance that binds soil particles
  

This structure leads to better aeration, better water infiltration, and better conditions for the rest of the soil food web to recover.

Regeneration Is a Process—Fungi Jumpstart It

Rebuilding dead soil isn’t about a single product or a one-time application. But fungi can be the catalyst that gets things moving. By colonizing plant roots and feeding off plant sugars, they begin the cycle that turns dirt back into soil.

In severely damaged fields where even weeds won’t grow, applying mycorrhizal fungi after harvest—or immediately before planting a mycorrhizal crop—can begin the healing process. Even without a crop, pairing fungi with a regenerative cover crop can start to restore the microbial life.

In trials observed by New Age Farming, fields with obvious salt damage and poor biological function showed marked improvement after applying fungi, Salt B Gone, and adjusting tillage practices. It took a few months, but crop emergence, weed competition, and root development all began to return.

Fungi Work Where Fertilizer Can’t

In fields with poor microbial life, synthetic fertilizer becomes much less efficient. Nutrients don’t cycle naturally, and leaching becomes a major issue. It’s not uncommon to see visual signs of deficiency even when soil tests show sufficient NPK.

Fungi address this by:

• Solubilizing bound phosphorus and uptaking all macro/micronutrients
  
• Bringing nutrients directly to plant roots
  
• Improving nutrient use efficiency across the board
  

This allows you to dial back fertilizer rates over time and see better results—not by applying more, but by applying smarter.

From Desperation to Productivity

Rebuilding a field isn’t just a soil science story—it’s an economic one. When you’re dumping inputs into a field that doesn’t pay you back, the margin disappears. Fungi offer a way out.

With proper application, support from compatible cover crops, and a reduction in harmful practices like deep tillage, anhydrous ammonia usage, or broad-spectrum fungicides, farmers can bring fields back from the edge. You can start seeing results immediately: better stand counts, improved drought resilience, and higher test weights.

In the long term, soil with active fungal populations holds more water, retains more nutrients, and supports stronger crops with fewer inputs.

When Organic Isn’t Enough

Going organic might remove the worst offenders, but it doesn’t rebuild what’s been lost. You still need biology. You still need function. You still need a living system beneath your crop.

Fungi provides that. And they do it whether your field is certified organic, transitioning, or just trying to bounce back from decades of abuse.

If your soil isn’t performing the way it used to, it’s time to go beyond organic. It’s time to rebuild, from the roots up.

Sources

Kise, Sam. “New Age Farming and the Power of Mycorrhizal Fungi.” Future Farmer Magazine, March-April 2023.

Petersen, Mike. “Trip Report of the VT Crop Stage Plots.” Soils Consultant Report, Wood River Interchange, 2022.

Soil Food Web School. “The Magnificent Mycorrhizal Fungi.” soilfoodweb.com.