How Mycorrhizal Fungi Build Resilient, Productive Soil

By Danny Levy, CTO

Mycorrhizal Fungi: Soil’s Platform for Sustainability

A wise farmer once said, “I don’t grow crops – I build soil.”

What he meant was that soil is the true black gold – the living, evolving foundation that allows every crop to thrive. Without it, farms degrade into dust.

Today, however, climate stress and intensive agricultural practices have severely degraded the microbial life in our soils – undermining soil structure, reducing water retention and diminishing nutrient cycling. The result is that soils are less resilient and more prone to degradation – leading to more floods, dust storms and erosion. Natural soil fertility is declining, and farmers are struggling to sustain yields without overly relying on expensive chemical fertilizers.

One of the most effective ways to restore the original foundation of farmland fertility lies within the soil itself: mycorrhizal fungi. Reintroducing mycorrhizae into cropland isn’t just about adding another microbial input – it’s about reestablishing the infrastructure that supports healthy, resilient and productive soils.

How Mycorrhizae Work: Key Agronomic Mechanisms

Mycorrhizal fungi operate through several core mechanisms that deliver tangible benefits for growers:

• Enhanced Crop Yield
• Fertilizer Efficiency
• Resistance to Abiotic Stress
• Carbon Sequestration and Soil Organic Matter Formation

Let’s look more closely at the science behind these benefits:

Enhanced Crop Yield

Mycorrhizal fungi form a “Mycorrhizal BioPlatform” – a biological grid that connects plant roots with microbes and nutrients, distributing nutrition across the rhizosphere.

By effectively extending root systems by up to 100x, mycorrhizae give plants access to vital macro and micronutrients far beyond the reach of roots alone.

These mycelial networks also foster cooperation with other beneficial microbes, such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria that travel along mycorrhizal pathways. This microbial synergy delivers an additional boost to both yield and fertilizer efficiency, supporting healthier crops, faster growth and improved harvest consistency.

Fertilizer Optimization

Phosphorus (P) is an essential – but often chemically inaccessible – plan nutrition input. Up to 80% of applied P becomes chemically bound in soil, forming “legacy phosphorus” that roots can’t access. Mycorrhizal fungi change this game. They modify soil pH, unlocking and mobilizing bound P and delivering it directly to plants. This enhances phosphorus uptake, improves ROI on synthetic fertilizers, and reduces dependence on costly chemical inputs.

Resistance to Abiotic Stress

Mycorrhizal fungi enhance plant resilience under environmental stressors such as drought, floods and extreme weather.

Drought: Because mycorrhizal hyphae form a vast network far beyond the root zone, they facilitate plant access to otherwise unreachable water reserves during drought.

Floods: In flooding conditions, when roots suffocate from lack of oxygen, mycorrhizae act as oxygen pathways, reaching aerated soil zones and helping plants survive until conditions restabilize.

Sub-par Soil Conditions: In soils with suboptimal pH, nutrients bind to aluminum in acidic conditions or to calcium in alkaline conditions, making them unavailable to plants. Mycorrhizae help mitigate this by locally adjusting pH, unlocking bound nutrients and converting them into plant-accessible forms.

By supporting plants through stress events and challenging environments, mycorrhizae protect yields even under challenging conditions.

Carbon Sequestration and Soil Organic Matter

Mycorrhizal fungi are carbon’s main pathway into the soil. They play a critical role in carbon sequestration and the generation of Soil Organic Carbon (SOC). Studies show that up to 60% of the world’s plant-derived SOC can be attributed to mycorrhizal activity.

Plants allocate up to 20% of the sugars they photosynthesize to mycorrhizae in soil. This input of carbon exceeds the amount released through soil respiration, creating a net positive carbon flux into the soil. This means more carbon is going into the soil than leaving it.

Mycorrhizae also help aggregate soil particles, leading to the formation of Mineral-Associated Organic Matter (MAOM) – a stable carbon sink that makes up approximately two-thirds of the world’s SOC. By catalyzing the formation of carbon-rich MAOM, mycorrhizae continuously build durable soil organic matter, season after season.

Soil’s Living Infrastructure

The science is clear: mycorrhizal fungi are more than a microbial additive. They are soil’s resilient, living platform, holding the soil together, supporting plants through stress, and powering crop productivity.

At Groundwork BioAg, we call mycorrhizae the Queen of Biologicals: without them, soil loses vitality and farms lose value.

Discover the fascinating world of mycorrhizal fungi in action in our video on the biology and agronomy of Rootella in action. 

Let Your Ground Work.