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.
In 2019-20, Nebraska Healthy Soils Task Force (HSTF) conducted a survey to learn about producers' motivation and challenges in cover crop (CC), nutrient and other soil health management practices across the state. A total of 275 people participated in the survey of which 64.0% (n=176) were producers, 4.7% (n = 13) were landowners, 10.9% (n = 30) were crop consultants, 16.4% (n = 45) were from the university, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and state agencies, and other attendees were 4.0% (n = 11). Read more in this article from University of Nebraska Extension.
According to a 2001 paper (Land degradation: an overview), it is estimated that the total annual cost of erosion from agriculture in the USA is about $44 billion per year, i.e. about $100 per acre of cropland and pasture. On a global scale, the annual loss of 75 billion tons of soil costs the world about $400 billion per year, or approximately $70 per person per year (Eswaran, H., et. al. 2001). Read more in this article from the Capital Journal (Pierre, SD).
“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."
The National Strip-Tillage Conference returns August 8-9, 2024!Build and refine your strip-till system with dozens of new ideas and connections at the 11th Annual National Strip-Tillage Conference in Madison, Wis. Aug. 8-9, 2024. Experience an energizing 2-day agenda featuring inspiring general session speakers, expert-led Strip-Till Classrooms and collaborative Strip-Till Roundtables. Plus, Certified Crop Adviser credits will be offered.
Georgetown, Del., no-tiller Jay Baxter was planning on conducting a cover crop experiment with oats, but when Mother Nature got in the way, he quickly pivoted to another idea for a different type of cover crop experiment.