Saline Farming Offers a Sustainable Way to Revive Salt-Damaged Soils

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Health, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rising salt levels in soil and water are destroying farmland worldwide, with 16.6 million square kilometers now salt-affected — an area roughly the size of South America
Saline agriculture offers a powerful solution by using salt-tolerant crops, smart irrigation, and natural soil restoration methods to turn degraded land back into productive farmland
Research shows countries like China, India, Pakistan, Argentina, and the U.S. have millions of acres suitable for saline farming, which could help feed hundreds of millions of people without relying on scarce freshwater
Techniques such as gypsum treatment, drip irrigation, and phytoremediation — using plants themselves to absorb and redistribute salt — is helping restore soil fertility and protect food supplies
These same principles apply beyond farms; by managing salt, adding organic matter, and choosing resilient plants, even home gardeners can help revive soil health and contribute to global food resilience

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is your soil silently turning against you as salt creeps in and strangles your harvest?
0:05.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen
0:10.0	summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required.
0:15.0	Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:19.0	Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:22.6	I'm Ethan Foster, and today we're examining saline agriculture,
0:26.6	how working with salt rather than fighting it, can turn degraded ground back into productive farmland
0:31.6	and even guide what you do in a home garden.
0:34.6	I'm Alara Sky.
0:36.6	We're focusing on practical methods you can use,
0:39.3	the global scale of salinization, and evidence showing where salt-tolerant crops and smart
0:44.2	water strategies are already restoring yields. When you hear that 16.6 million square kilometers
0:50.4	of land are salt affected, an area about the size of South America, you can see the
0:55.8	stakes. If you farm in dry or coastal regions, you face shrinking yields, stressed roots,
1:01.8	and rising costs as freshwater becomes scarce.
1:05.0	That's the entry point for saline agriculture. Instead of forcing freshwater conditions, you select plants that tolerate stress,
1:13.4	manage water to balance salts over time, and use soil restoring steps so you keep land productive
1:19.3	without exhausting clean water supplies. Let's start with crop choice, barley, rye, beets, and
1:26.3	asparagus.
1:27.7	Withstand salt stress and keep pulling in nutrients like phosphorus even when salinity rises.
1:33.2	In fields that were trending toward abandonment, growers maintain viable harvests by shifting
1:38.1	toward these resilient options.
	...

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