As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Jerry Hatfield, retired USDA-ARS Plant Physiologist/Laboratory Director, presents “Pathway to Resilient Soils to Achieve Optimum Productivity and Environmental Quality”. This presentation was originally broadcast on May 19, 2021.
Read More... As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Brian Dougherty of Iowa State University, presents “Evaluating soil health and soil carbon dynamics in Midwestern cropping systems”. This presentation was originally broadcast on March 24, 2021.
Read More... As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Keith Berns of Green Cover Seed, presents “Soil Health for Nebraska Wealth: What the Nebraska Healthy Soils Task Force is doing to help farmers”. This presentation was originally broadcast on February 24, 2021.
Read More... As part of the Soil Health Nexus Digital Cafe Series, Matt Fryer of the University of Arkansas hosts a panel discussion soil health and fertility. This presentation was originally broadcast on July 22, 2020. Panelists included:Read More…
A 20-year study by Iowa State University researchers shows fertilizing cropland with poultry manure can benefit soil health and farm profits when compared to a commercial fertilizer. The study looked at long-term impacts of poultry manure on soil quality, crop yield, production costs and water quality in conventional Iowa cropping systems.
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Many of us take the soil we stand on for granted, including myself. I mean, it’s everywhere – especially on my carpet with 2 boys in my house. However, without soil, we can’t grow crops. Farmers know that soil is a critical part of farming, and making sure that soil can continue to grow crops for many years to come is at the forefront of every farmer’s mind – sometimes without even realizing it.
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Soil health conferences in South Dakota and Nebraska will take place on February 14, 2019.
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Maintaining soil fertility is important not only for profitable crop production, but also soil health. In a long-term P and K fertility trial, we can see that there is much greater residue cover in plots that have received adequate potash applications over time compared to where no K was applied. Application of P had minimal to no effect on residue cover.
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Wet weather results in shallow groundwater depths and saturated soils, whereas, dry weather results in lower groundwater depths. Establishing a vegetative cover is the key to utilize excessive soil moisture, intercepting salt-carrying water before it will affect productive areas, reducing evaporation from the soil surface, adding organic material and increasing microbial activity. With time, these headlands might be planted with crops like wheat, canola and corn and soybean again.
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Over the past several years, state and federal agencies and researchers have been trying to come up with a definition for soil health. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service defines soil healthRead More…