@earth
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@earth Rice terraces like these are shaped as much by microbial life as by human hands. When paddies flood, the soil becomes oxygen-poor—triggering microbial communities that decompose organic material and recycle nutrients into forms rice plants can absorb.¹ Those same conditions also produce methane, linking every flooded field to the global carbon cycle.² The microbes in soil are constantly breaking down and building up plant matter. In the process, these invisible engineers support the systems that produce 98.8% of the calories that humans consume.³ Image by @nilrandhafonseka
