Our bodies absorb vitamins and minerals through what we eat. These nutrients originate from the soil. Mineral-rich soil leads to nutritious, wholesome food. But did you know that the earthworm plays an important role in this process?

God created this amazing creature to be a plow, chemist, soil cultivator, as well as a maker and distributor of plant food. Worms aerate the ground as they burrow deep into the subsoil and ingest mineral-rich matter. On a return trip to the surface, a worm excretes minerals for plants to absorb and loosens soil to allow water to flow easily to the roots.

Mr. Dale Schurter, a senior minister with The Restored Church of God and agronomy expert, wrote about the significance of earthworms in his book Mounting Worldwide Crisis in Agriculture: “The larger earthworms, night crawlers, are a miracle of engineering in and of themselves. They burrow sometimes many inches downward into the soil, sometimes many feet into the subsoil searching for and gathering small bits of soil and/or rock particles to ingest and move through their series of ‘stomachs.’ As this species of worm tunnels down and around, it instinctively searches out minerals missing in the topsoil above. The earth it ingests and ‘composts’ does not just travel through it. This type of earthworm also serves as a ‘dump truck,’ and carries a processed load to the soil’s surface and deposits it there, where most needed.”

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, “It has been estimated that an earthworm ingests and discards its own weight in food and soil every day.”

There is a popular theory that if you cut an earthworm in half, the two sides will grow into full-size earthworms. While this is false, it is true that if certain portions of an earthworm’s body are cut off, they will regenerate.

The earthworm is native to Europe, but is found throughout North America and western Asia. It typically grows about three to four inches long, though some giant worms of Australia and South America can grow as long as 11 feet.

Worms are an exciting part of God’s Creation and directly influence the nutrient value of the food you eat. Now that you have learned about them, try creating your own worm farm!