Soil health - Articles

Research Confirms the Soil Health Benefits of Cover Crops

By Sarah Hill posted on September 2, 2020

Without the soil, no farming would exist. Growers should be fixated with maximizing every inch of soil and improving the various factors that impact soil health.

Farming Ugly

August 21, 2020 | Posted in Seeding Practices

Source: Lancaster Farming

Some of our fields looked really scruffy, like stands of forgotten, overgrown brush that had given up the ghost and turned that pale, beige color of dead foliage we become so familiar with, and bored of, through the long months of winter. Only the early signs of small, emerging spikes of greenery in rows suggested that the fields had not been forgotten. Read more in this article from Lancaster Farming.

Soil is Critical for Crop Health

August 19, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Sun Journal (New Bern, NC)

Soil is more than just dirt. It is a living substance and when balanced, exchanges nutrients, stores and drains water, and provides a healthy environment for crops and forages to produce realistic yield expectations (RYE). Read more in this article from the Sun Journal (New Bern, NC).

[Podcast] No-Till, Cover Crops Boost Soil Health

In this podcast from Stroud Water Research Center, host Scott LaMar discusses soil health with Lisa Blazure, Stroud Water Research Center soil health coordinator; Jim Hershey, president of the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance and Lancaster County, PA, farmer; and Steve Groff, cover crop expert and farmer, also in Lancaster County, PA.

August 17, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

In this podcast from Stroud Water Research Center, host Scott LaMar discusses soil health with Lisa Blazure, Stroud Water Research Center soil health coordinator; Jim Hershey, president of the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance and Lancaster County, PA, farmer; and Steve Groff, cover crop expert and farmer, also in Lancaster County, PA.

Tillage Affects Soil Aggregate Stability

August 7, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Dodge City Daily Globe

Some farmers claim that you need to “open up and fluff up the soil with tillage” so it can take in moisture and that no-till just makes the ground hard making it difficult for water to get through. Tradition may make you think that is the case. Read more in this article from the Dodge City Daily Globe (Dodge City, KS).

Adding Hay to Your Crop Rotation

August 5, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA)

The soil health benefits of having a perennial forage in the crop rotation are better than any cover crop, because its living roots are in the soil for much longer. Hay prices have been strong over the last couple of years, and there is always a market for high-quality hay. Read more in this article from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs.

Soil Changes When Cover Crops are Grown

August 3, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Southern SARE

Florida vegetable farmers who grow cover crops as a green manure between their cash crops anecdotally tout the health benefits, but a two-year study by University of Florida has provided the research to back it up. In a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) On-Farm Research Grant, University of Florida soil health expert Jehangir (Jango) Bhadha shadowed the cover crop practices of eight farmers across the state to measure the benefits of using cover crops (mainly cow pea and sunn hemp) as a soil amendment and nutrient source for subsequent cash crops.

Carbon Farming Growing in Interest

July 31, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: The Hawk Eye (Burlington, IA)

Mitchell Hora walks to a field on his family’s southeast Iowa farm, where 5-inch-high soybeans grow in alternating rows with 4-foot-tall cereal rye. The 25-year-old admits that combining the two crops would make most farmers freak out. Read more in this article from The Hawk Eye (Burlington, IA).

Research on Cover Crops Essential for Restoring Soil

July 27, 2020 | Posted in Soil Health

Source: Herald Journal News (Logan, UT)

Due to the increased demand for efficiency, farmers have had to pull more resources from the soil to make sure their production practices are as efficient as possible. The extra demand for resources from the soil has led to a decrease in overall soil health. Read more in this article from the Herald Journal News (Logan, UT).

Livestock Grazing on Cover Crops Improves Soil Health

July 24, 2020 | Posted in Grazing

Source: Farm Forum

In 2016, Shawn Freeland to make a difficult decision. The 45-year-old Caputa, S.D., rancher attended a Grassland Coalition Grazing School. In addition to reducing his stocking density on rangeland, he no-till drilled a diverse cover crop mix on irrigated hay acres. Read more in this article from Farm Forum (Aberdeen, SD).