Nurturing the soil biology is crucial is you want healthy soil that will support healthy plant growth, healthy animals and healthy people, and the absolute best way to get started with fueling your soil biology is with compost. 

Compost has been a basic component of agriculture for at least 4500 years, with the first recorded documents being the clay tablets of Akkadian in 2700 B.C.! I would call this a time tested practice, and who would want to argue with an Akkadian?