Kate Scow with the University of California, Davis, presents on management practices for promoting native soil microbes and strategies for successful inoculation with non-native soil microbes at the 2016 Symposium on Horticultural Science in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Soil biology is often not utilized even though there are many uses for soil biology in agriculture such as developing antibiotic resistance or controlling plant nutrients. Decreased resilience to stresses, contamination of water, and loss of soil quality are some challenges that agricultural systems face. When addressing those challenges, many modern agricultural practices are focused on single issues of the plant rather than systems which includes soil. Soil biodiversity can provide benefits by introducing native microorganisms or "prebiotics" and non-native inoculants or "probiotics."