The method
What Metabolic Agriculture claims, how it is carried out, and how we are adapting it from the Mediterranean to Kansas. Start at the top; the detailed procedures are linked at the bottom of each part.
Work with the biology already in the field
Anscari Fuentes developed Metabolic Agriculture in Mediterranean Spain. His premise is that every farm already holds microbial communities adapted over decades to its own soil and climate, and that these local communities will outperform generic, purchased inoculants because they already "speak the language" of that soil.
Wild plants are a readout
Which plants thrive in a spot says something about what is happening underground. Trample-tolerant plantain and knotweed point to compaction and low oxygen. Lamb's quarters and chickweed point to fast nitrogen release. Mapping them is the first diagnostic step.
Wild plants are also a source
The roots and tissues of selected wild plants carry microbes suited to local conditions. Small amounts of plant material are collected, the microbes are extracted in water, and the preparation is applied to the crop.
Timing is part of the dose
Applications are matched to crop growth stage, soil temperature, moisture and even time of day, so the microbes arrive when the crop is most receptive.
Build capacity in stages
Basic functions such as nitrogen fixation and phosphorus release come first. More complex interactions are layered in later, with the goal of a soil system that needs fewer purchased inputs each year.
Four phases, each built on the last
The book lays out implementation as a sequence. Moving to the next phase depends on measured progress, not a fixed calendar.
Diagnose
Inventory wild plants and insects on transects, map where they grow, note their vigor, and pair those zones with soil samples and enzyme tests. Set specific, measurable goals.
Activate basics
Introduce microbes from plants associated with nitrogen fixation, phosphorus solubilization and soil structure.
Add complexity
Apply preparations in sequence, with intervals that let each population establish, to build interactions between microbial groups.
Maintain
Once the system is stable, apply only when indicators show a function slipping or conditions turn extreme.
Detailed collection and preparation protocols belong to Anscari's methodology and are adapted farm by farm with his guidance. This page describes the approach, not a recipe.
From Mediterranean species to Kansas ones
Most plants named in the book are European. Some grow here too; others need Kansas stand-ins chosen by function and chemistry. Everything below is a working hypothesis until it is confirmed in the field and reviewed with Anscari.
| Soil function | Species in the book | Kansas candidates | Best time to look |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nitrogen fixation | Trifolium repens (white clover), Medicago sativa (alfalfa), Vicia sativa (common vetch) | White clover, alfalfa, Vicia villosa (hairy vetch); natives Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover), Amorpha canescens (leadplant), Desmanthus illinoensis (Illinois bundleflower) | Spring before flowering; fall regrowth |
| Phosphorus release | Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion), Plantago major (broadleaf plantain), Rumex crispus (curly dock) | All three are common here, plus Plantago rugelii (blackseed plantain) | Dandelion rosettes in Oct–Nov and Mar–Apr |
| Soil structure | Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass), Festuca rubra (red fescue), Poa pratensis (Kentucky bluegrass) | Kentucky bluegrass; native prairie grasses Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem), Panicum virgatum (switchgrass), Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem), Sorghastrum nutans (Indiangrass) | Spring for cool-season grasses, summer for warm-season |
| Signaling (aromatics) | Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort), Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary), Lavandula angustifolia (English lavender), Thymus vulgaris (common thyme) | Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot), Pycnanthemum spp. (mountain mint), Artemisia ludoviciana (prairie sage), Achillea millefolium (common yarrow) | Flowering, June–August |
| Reading compaction | Plantago major (broadleaf plantain), Polygonum aviculare (prostrate knotweed), Matricaria discoidea (pineappleweed) | All present at field entrances and headlands; to be mapped against yield maps | Growing season |
| Reading nitrogen supply | Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), Chenopodium album (lamb's quarters), Stellaria media (common chickweed) | All present, plus Amaranthus tuberculatus (waterhemp) and other pigweeds | Growing season |
| Reading decomposition | Galium aparine (cleavers), Lamium purpureum (purple deadnettle), Sambucus nigra (European elderberry) | Cleavers, purple deadnettle, Lamium amplexicaule (henbit), Sambucus canadensis (American elderberry) | March–April, just before planting |
One farm near Iola, Kansas
The book's worked examples come from vegetables, orchards, olives and vineyards under drip irrigation. Our pilot is a dryland corn, soybean and wheat operation in Allen County, on the claypan soils common across southeast Kansas. If the approach works here, the goal is to document it well enough that farmers in other regions can build their own local version.
- Location
- Allen County, near Iola, Kansas
- Crops
- Corn, soybeans, wheat
- Soils
- Silt loams over a dense clay subsoil layer (to be confirmed field by field)
- Water
- Rain-fed
- Partner
- Anscari Fuentes, author of the method
What has to change for row crops
Different plants
European indicator species need Kansas equivalents, and the local reference sites are fencerows, grassed waterways and native prairie hay meadows.
Annual weeds
The book favors established perennials. Most plants inside Kansas row-crop fields are annual weeds, so we need rules for how, or whether, to use them.
Crop families
The method avoids preparations from the crop's own plant family. Corn and wheat are grasses and soybeans are legumes, which overlaps with key indicator groups.
No irrigation line
Instead of injecting into drip lines, we will look at sprayer, in-furrow and wheat top-dress applications, and work out a dose per acre.
Scale
Preparing enough material for hundreds of acres has to stay consistent from batch to batch.
Existing programs
Herbicides, fertilizer and seed treatments stay in place for year one unless there is a clear reason to change them, so results are easier to interpret.
Evidence a neighbor would trust
The method holds that effects spread through the soil over time. That makes the usual side-by-side strip trial hard to read, because an untreated strip next to a treated one may not stay untreated. So the pilot is designed around that.
Separated comparisons
Whole fields or large blocks separated by roads, waterways or distance, paired by soil and history, with several years of yield-monitor data as the baseline.
Measuring the spread
Soil and yield measured at increasing distances from a treated edge. If the effect fades with distance, that supports both the effect and the idea that it spreads.
A fair control
Besides untreated ground, a check prepared and applied exactly the same way but without plant material, so the preparation itself is what gets tested.
Predictions in writing
Before spring, we agree with Anscari on what should change, by how much and when. Measurements include soil biology and enzyme tests, stand counts, tissue tests, residue breakdown, yield and grain quality.
Fall 2026 to spring 2027
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Now through late October
Walk the farm, gather field records, and inventory wild plants in fields, headlands, fencerows, waterways and a native prairie reference site before first frost. Take baseline soil samples paired with those plant zones, including newly planted wheat.
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November and December
Build the confirmed Kansas indicator list with Anscari, choose year-one goals and fields, finalize the trial design, and line up extension, lab and funding partners.
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January and February
Practice runs of the preparation with lab counts of live microbes, sprayer and planter calibration, and a written field protocol other farms can repeat.
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Late February and March
First application at wheat green-up. Spring plant survey while dandelion, henbit, deadnettle and clover are active.
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April and May
Applications at corn and soybean planting, and in-season monitoring begins.
Open the field inventory Read the transect protocol
Questions we're working through
- Which Kansas plants best match the functions of the book's Mediterranean species?
- How should annual weeds be used, given the book's preference for established perennials?
- Does the plant-family rule rule out grass-based preparations for corn and wheat, or legume-based ones for soybeans?
- What is the right dose and carrier for a sprayer or planter instead of an irrigation line?
- How many live microbes remain after preparation? We plan to measure this directly.
How it is actually done
These three take the method from an idea to a procedure.
- Walking a field How to survey what grows, where, and what to record about it.
- Making a preparation Collection, fermentation, extraction and dilution, step by step.
- Timing When to collect, when to apply, and the conditions that decide the morning.
To put any of it into practice on your own ground, use the field tool.