In this edition:

• Sixty years of crop diversification with perennials improves yields more than no-tillage in Ohio grain cropping systems
• Conservation Tillage Practices on GHG Emissions, Soil Health and Overall Agricultural Sustainability
• Long-term continuous no-till corn-soybean systems: Examining soil carbon sequestration and nitrogen accumulation across various pools
• Assessing the agricultural, environmental, and economic effects of crop diversity management: A comprehensive review on crop rotation and cover crop practices
• Cover Crops Optimize Soil Fertility and Soybean Productivity in the Cerrado of MATOPIBA, Brazil
• Short-term no-tillage improves soil water retention and maintains soil aeration at high moisture conditions despite reduced macroporosity
• Tillage Radish as Cover Crop Improves Soil Health Indicators Depending on Pedoclimatic Conditions.

In this video from Iowa Learning Farms, hear from growers about why they have chosen to use cover crops. Covers can be used in conjunction with no-till to combat soil erosion, reverse soil degradation, and more.

Centuries of farming has taken its toll on the soil. Now, farmers are facing widespread soil degradation that can lower their crop yields and incomes. Read more in this article from Smithsonian Magazine.

Wind storms are carrying topsoil away from valuable farmland, and that wind erosion is extremely detrimental to the agriculture industry. Soil degradation is contributing to erosion, and using fertilizer to bridge the gaps of nutrients in the soil may be more harmful than helpful.

Soil health, as defined by a team of researchers in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University, is “the state of the soil being in sound physical, chemical, and biological condition, having the capability to sustain the growth and development of land plants.” Rajan Ghimire, a cropping systems agronomist at the Agricultural Science Center in Clovis, put it more simply: “Healthy soil leads to healthy human beings.”

Organic soybean production relies on a significant amount of tillage. When done well, yields can rival conventional production. Read more in this article from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs.