Lots of folks are saying we need to dramatically expand our cover crop acreage in an effort to improve soil health. But if this is going to happen over the next few years, the most effective way depends on many more farmers switching to no-tillage.
Each year in early December, World Soil Day is celebrated around the world. To celebrate this annual event, the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation has pulled together a list of 17 soil moisture management concepts that can help you make soil and water a much better source of life.
Cover crops offer a wide range of potential benefits for producers – better nutrient cycling, more weed suppression, more livestock forage, better soil structure, increased soil organic matter and healthier soil microbial communities. To reap those benefits, producers need to make some careful decisions.
Soil tillage on farms may significantly reduce the availability in crops of ergothioneine (ERGO), an amino acid produced by certain types of soil-borne fungi and bacteria that is known as a “longevity vitamin” due to its potent antioxidant properties, according to new research by an interdisciplinary team at Penn State.
To support growers in their transition to regenerative soil health systems, the Fund will establish soil health and soil carbon targets for their farms, assess the economic and environmental benefits of soil health practices in cotton production and will provide education programs through farmer-to-farmer mentoring networks.
According to the Soil Health Institute, data collected and analyzed across 100 farms in 9 states shows that soil health management systems increased net income for 85% of those growing corn and 88% of those growing soybeans.
Many conservation practices can maintain and enhance physical, chemical and biological soil properties that contribute to overall soil biological functions as fundamental drivers that support plant growth and productivity.
“It’s not that hard to try something new,” says Russell Hedrick. “Farmers should remember that soil health practices aren’t silver bullets and some take time to establish."
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On this edition of Conservation Ag Update, brought to you by CultivAce, longtime no-tiller Jim Leverich explains why 20-inch corn rows are paying off big time on his Sparta, Wis., farm.
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