Brandon Fletcher—
On 2/7/2024, here at Miami Regionals Hamilton at our conservatory, which is free to access by all students, B.J. Price, District Administrator of Preble Soil and Water Conservation District, gave visitors a lesson on much of what he has learned about soil in his career. The event had been called Journey to the Center of the Earth. This makes us think of the science fiction novel and movie adaptation, but Price says, “This is not science fiction or fantasy, but it does involve my spirit of adventure.” Price has traveled to 48 different states with his family collecting soil samples from across the country. He gave his audience several interesting facts about soil. One of those facts was that the state soil of Ohio is Miamian soil; a soil named after the same tribe of Native Americans as Miami University.
To inform his audience about soil, Price used an apple, something grown from soil itself, to illustrate something far less easy to comprehend than an apple; the world itself. To demonstrate that three fourths of the world is covered by water he cut away three fourths of the apple. He then cut away more until one eighth of the apple was left. “One eighth of the world is habitable,” he said. He then began to cut even more into the apple, leaving it with only 1/32nd of the red exterior showing. He said that is how much of the Earth that we can grow food on.
Without soil we certainly could not eat. When asked if he’d like a story done for his talk he said, “We can use another soil story.” Soil is certainly not something to take for granted; it’s not just dirt. Price said, “Dirt is something you sweep up with a broom… Soil is something that supports life.” In his talk, Price elaborated on the complexity and diversity of soil that many people just don’t think about and demonstrated the importance soil has in nature and in our lives.
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