2022 Eastern Nebraska Soil Health Conference Presentations - Aaron Hird

Deloris Pittman & Mike Kamm Author

02/08/2022 Added

17 Plays

Description

Recognizing Healthy Soil (Virtual Real-Time Presentation) - Aaron Hird, Nebraska NRCS State Soil Health Specialist

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:08.320]Thanks a lot, everybody for, for coming today. Again,
[00:00:12.220]my name is Aaron Hird on the state soil health specialists for NRCS, Nebraska.
[00:00:16.270]I'm certainly glad to take this opportunity to talk to you today about soil
[00:00:20.530]health. , today I have a title, recognizing soil health.
[00:00:25.510]I think I'd like to start here with these pictures on the screen and, ,
[00:00:30.100]portray all the different ways cover crops. Look,
[00:00:33.460]we have a romantic notion of how I'll cover
[00:00:38.230]crops. Look, we think golf course green and consistent and perfect.
[00:00:43.120]but there's a lot of varieties and there's a lot of ways to use them.
[00:00:46.780]And today we're going to talk about that.
[00:00:49.130]I also want to kind of key in,
[00:00:51.790]on the word recognizing soil health.
[00:00:55.210]I think how we measure soil health or recognize it on the ground varies.
[00:01:00.310]It's really challenging. We're going to talk,
[00:01:02.530]talk about quite a few of those ways. but primarily today,
[00:01:06.520]the take home message is to focus on regenerating social structure and the soil
[00:01:11.380]ecosystem really follows after that. So we can,
[00:01:14.980]we can certainly build it and have some habitat out there for,
[00:01:19.530]for the ecosystem to develop.
[00:01:25.450]See if I can get this to switch. There you go.
[00:01:30.010]Figure out what button works.
[00:01:32.350]So I like to start off right here with kind of the challenges that we're
[00:01:36.790]presented with in, in agriculture, in Nebraska.
[00:01:41.440]we have some extreme weather events that have occurred in the past 10 years,
[00:01:45.430]and we've all experienced that in various ways every year throws
[00:01:50.260]us a different curve ball. It seems, I took these pictures and,
[00:01:54.970]like to just highlight the fact that we,
[00:01:58.660]we have begun to see some,
[00:02:00.910]some pretty extreme examples of how our crops are interacting with the weather.
[00:02:05.110]And here's, a crop on the top left that flooded out on top of this hill.
[00:02:09.820]and then a year or two later,
[00:02:13.900]I took this picture of a corn crop that droughted out on top of the hill.
[00:02:17.860]And I took these two cover crop versus no cover crop pictures on the bottom
[00:02:22.690]left and show a waterway there spring melt off
[00:02:27.580]and some erosion coming down that,
[00:02:30.280]that concentrated flow area and this cover crop on the right protected,
[00:02:34.600]that same, a different concentrated flow area,
[00:02:37.270]but that was after a 15 inch rain, not just spring melt off.
[00:02:42.520]So that cover crop really served a purpose in that, in that system,
[00:02:47.500]protecting it from a massive rain event.
[00:02:51.130]we've all seen some cover crops in standing corn. This got a little wooly and,
[00:02:56.410]this guy was really concerned about this cereal in the bottom center.
[00:03:02.230]but it got real droughty that year and he still managed to grow his best
[00:03:07.120]corn crop ever,
[00:03:08.320]despite having a five foot tall cereal rye that he planted into.
[00:03:13.270]And I really liken that all to resiliency and
[00:03:18.520]the ability to withstand a disturbance is resilient.
[00:03:23.290]the pictures across the top there really show what that soil looked like,
[00:03:27.760]big cracks and, pretty poor functioning soil.
[00:03:32.470]And when the soil pawns water and then can't store it,
[00:03:37.060]then we have flooded out and drops or we have droughted out crops.
[00:03:41.330]So we're really thinking and keying in on how the soil responds to those
[00:03:46.210]extreme weather events, not so much the extreme weather,
[00:03:49.480]because we have cases where extreme weather occurred and we saw no, no,
[00:03:53.860]no damage. And we had brilliance spoiled.
[00:03:59.020]So if we can work with our soil to become more resilient to those extreme
[00:04:02.770]weather events, that we, we have something going on, how do we do that?
[00:04:07.630], I'm going to put a plug in for managing for healthy soil.
[00:04:11.290]It really comes down to all of the aspects of soil management, the chemical,
[00:04:15.370]biological, and physical aspects of soil.
[00:04:18.520]And that's really the foundation of this conference and other conferences that
[00:04:23.350]Keith booing hosted through time, biological, chemical,
[00:04:27.010]and physical aspects of soil and learn about all of those.
[00:04:30.880]I really like to point off that wherever you're at,
[00:04:34.480]that's where you need to start. You need to start where you are,
[00:04:38.320]use what you have and do what you can with the resources you have,
[00:04:42.580]and then build up from there with knowledge and information and opportunities
[00:04:46.870]like this conference.
[00:04:48.880]I really liked this quote from Warren Buffett's diversification is a protection
[00:04:52.600]against ignorance. believe me, I need this.
[00:04:55.990]this makes very little sense to those who already know what they're doing
[00:04:59.290]though. Well, that, that,
[00:05:02.950]really resonates with me.
[00:05:05.620]So I try and approach things with a little bit of hble pie a lot of
[00:05:10.360]times, unfortunately.
[00:05:12.820]but I took these two pictures and I think it's a good illustration.
[00:05:16.990]no-till in Nebraska is, is everywhere.
[00:05:20.740]52% of harvested crop land in 2017 was no-till farm.
[00:05:25.510]And we're the nber one state in the nation for no-till like yours.
[00:05:29.380]We've adopted, no-till farming everywhere. Everybody's doing it. And,
[00:05:34.510]and, or tried it. And if they're not doing it,
[00:05:37.330]they have a reason why they're not,
[00:05:39.430]but I've started taking some pictures of some no-till acres. And,
[00:05:43.810]I like to point out we really need that soil to function in the
[00:05:48.410]spring. And we see these sprayer tracks on the right side here.
[00:05:52.750]And we start to see some, some lack of stability in soil through time.
[00:05:57.950]And I started scratching my head and asking why. And,
[00:06:02.810], this field on the left is a continuous signage fields,
[00:06:05.990]and it had an even worse condition that previous spring than the,
[00:06:09.110]that no-till field with the spare tracks, continuous silent fields, just blow.
[00:06:13.610]And, and then they erode water erosion, that they can be,
[00:06:18.350]really degr, degraded, really poor. So function.
[00:06:23.420]We planted this cover crop on this continuous Savage field after harvest and,
[00:06:27.320]you know, night season,
[00:06:29.300]there was not a soil stability issue because there's a living armor on the
[00:06:33.890]soil that active soil management really protected the soil.
[00:06:38.330]Whereas the passive ed residue that management is just
[00:06:44.420]interacting by being present. It's not, it's not actively participating.
[00:06:48.830]So we,
[00:06:50.310]we need to focus on restoring that resiliency in the soil and its ability to
[00:06:55.190]function. And with that in mind,
[00:06:57.200]I really like to key in on the definition of soil health,
[00:07:01.100]it's the continued capacity of the soil,
[00:07:03.200]the function through time as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants,
[00:07:07.890]animals, and hans.
[00:07:09.500]I've underlined a really key part of that for me,
[00:07:13.220]the continued capacity of the soil, the function to me,
[00:07:16.460]that defines being resilient. And that's what we've talked about so far. And,
[00:07:22.700]there's a lot of good illustrations of how this definition fits with your own
[00:07:27.260]health. Your continued capacity to function is your health.
[00:07:32.570]And so if we start to look at our soil and ask,
[00:07:35.510]how can we facilitate it growing and change
[00:07:40.670]and gene to continue to come to function in the ways that we needed to
[00:07:45.890]then we're, we're after the right target, we're talking about the right subject.
[00:07:50.030]And we need to focus on that aspect of, of this discussion.
[00:07:54.380]So soil functions, I've got some pictures here of a,
[00:07:57.770]of a soybean field, conventional farming situation,
[00:08:02.330]and we see some, some horizontal lines in that soil structure. That's,
[00:08:07.220]that's a indication of, of a management induced soil structure problem.
[00:08:12.230], the picture in the center. I'm not sure if you can see that centipede there.
[00:08:16.220], but it's not often that you see a,
[00:08:19.200]a Stripe critter crawling around in your soil, in a conventional field.
[00:08:23.480]So we're looking for diversity and we're looking for roots to interact with the
[00:08:28.100]soil, that picture on the right.
[00:08:29.480]So I can't iterate enough that it's a living ecosystem that
[00:08:34.430]sustains plants, animals, and hans as well.
[00:08:38.720]So we'll let this slide load. And,
[00:08:42.530]how do we take that first step to regenerate soil health in our crop
[00:08:47.060]fields, we really need to just implement the,
[00:08:49.670]the four soil health principles and NRCS CSS has
[00:08:54.320]advertised and made them well-known. Hopefully you've seen this before,
[00:08:58.320]but we need to minimize disturbance. That's no till farming,
[00:09:02.040]we need to maximize soul cover. That's a lot of residue,
[00:09:05.490]but that's dead and living residue. And that's,
[00:09:08.850]that's where cover crops come in,
[00:09:11.310]to maximize biodiversity and provide that continuous living root
[00:09:16.170]and all four of those principles when applied at the same time can,
[00:09:20.700]can really change your soil and start to compound and
[00:09:25.230]cascade up or in a trend that's illustrated there in that
[00:09:30.030]slide. integrating livestock is like greasing those wheels though.
[00:09:34.710]Every aspect of that, of those principles are improved when,
[00:09:38.640]when the livestock are managed well and can, can benefit from that,
[00:09:43.290]that system approach. So the goal is to,
[00:09:46.510]to build some soil organic matter,
[00:09:48.360]to build some soil aggregates and start interacting with water differently,
[00:09:53.130]and then start increasing productivity of that soil. When we do that,
[00:09:57.900]we're really changing some properties of the soil.
[00:10:00.900]And so the NRA NRCS in Nebraska is focused on the soil health assessment,
[00:10:05.940],
[00:10:06.150]to help you as land owners and managers understand where your soil
[00:10:10.980]is today and where it's moving in the future.
[00:10:14.220]And we do that by measuring these dynamics, soil properties.
[00:10:16.890]I'm going to key in on this quite a bit as we go through this
[00:10:21.450]presentation, and talk about the ways that we can measure soil health and,
[00:10:25.950]and how to interpret that,
[00:10:28.830]dynamic psyllid properties are really what we're measuring those of biological,
[00:10:33.030]chemical,
[00:10:33.660]and physical aspects of the soil that change within a timeframe that we can
[00:10:38.650]can see within five to 10 years, we can see some major changes,
[00:10:43.560]but in,
[00:10:44.070]in one year we can quantify some changes that definitely
[00:10:48.570]result in, in productivity and interaction with water in a different way,
[00:10:53.730]those dynamics, so properties that we've keyed in on our biological activity,
[00:10:57.750]of course,
[00:10:58.200]there's a myriad of biological soil tests and ways that
[00:11:03.150]we can investigate biology.
[00:11:04.740]Oak density is something I'm going to talk quite a bit about the density of
[00:11:08.310]soil. So color is a rapid assessment of soil,
[00:11:12.600]and we can definitely identify what color it is, there's that science.
[00:11:17.460]And we can see how that color changes through time aggregate stability,
[00:11:22.710]the ability of the soil to stand up or stay
[00:11:27.090]structural when wet is what aggregate stability is.
[00:11:31.080]And then that leads to structure. We talked about the structure above ground,
[00:11:35.820]those aggregates and that surface crust,
[00:11:38.070]but also the structure underground and how water moves through the soil.
[00:11:42.270]All of those dynamic soil properties are related directly to soil functions that
[00:11:47.190]we depend on the farm and those soil functions are listed there.
[00:11:51.000]Nutrient cycling, water and storage, filtering in buffering,
[00:11:56.380]physical stability and support and habitat for biological
[00:12:01.270]activity.
[00:12:02.650]I put that one last because I really want to move into the aspects of habitat.
[00:12:07.660]That's what we're managing. When we apply the soil health principles,
[00:12:11.920]we're really putting something to cover up the soil and put some roots in
[00:12:16.840]the soil so that there's food, water, air, space, and shelter.
[00:12:21.940]Those are the five aspects of habitat for any living organism.
[00:12:26.260]Those are the five things you need in your habits, that food, water, air, space,
[00:12:31.090]and shelter. So when we're managing for habitat,
[00:12:34.150]that's when the organisms can come and live there.
[00:12:36.880]And those organisms then begin to work in the soil to provide
[00:12:41.290]more of those five aspects of habitat space and shelter predominantly.
[00:12:46.600]And that's when wet, stable aggregates are formed.
[00:12:49.750]And the picture there shows that when there's aggregates,
[00:12:52.390]then infiltration can occur. It's when we have poor aggregates to build
[00:12:58.840]that, we create those crusts on the soil surface, and then we get runoff.
[00:13:02.900]That picture describes
[00:13:05.740]a common problem in Nebraska is a tillage induced root,
[00:13:09.310]restrictive compaction layer.
[00:13:11.290]I've really keyed in on this because this is a rapidly assessed
[00:13:15.730]problem. We can go to your crop field,
[00:13:18.400]take a shovel biggest small pit and pop this out and,
[00:13:22.390]and look at these layers and identify are
[00:13:27.100]these coach induced root, restrictive compaction layers present.
[00:13:30.880]And then are they actually root restrictive in order to illustrate this on this
[00:13:35.170]slide?
[00:13:35.530]I found these pictures on these tillage websites that I've referenced here.
[00:13:40.360]they're trying to sell some deep tillage tools and different things by
[00:13:44.710]acknowledging that the other tillage tools have caused the problem.
[00:13:48.670]The field cultivator there is cause of compaction layer two to four inches.
[00:13:53.620]The disc has caused a compaction layer at six to eight inches.
[00:13:57.040]And the plow grandpa's plow caused the compaction layer at 12 to 16 inches in
[00:14:01.510]your field.
[00:14:02.470]So we should take another piece of iron that's heavy and has torque and go
[00:14:06.550]deeper and create another compaction layer at 16 to 18 inches in order
[00:14:11.410]to alleviate the compact I shouldn't problem.
[00:14:16.450]I'm not buying that. And that's why I put on that big clod of dirt. It's roots,
[00:14:20.980]not iron, you know, all these hashtags in our world today,
[00:14:25.210]you can go onto Twitter or even just the internet and type in hashtag bruits dot
[00:14:28.900]iron,
[00:14:29.650]and a whole series of pictures and stories will pop up that really portray
[00:14:34.450]how people are implementing that concept on their land.
[00:14:37.810]And if we can boil it down to a catchy slogan, that's it.
[00:14:41.500]And I took this picture of these tillage induced or restrictive compassion
[00:14:45.380]layers in this field on the left.
[00:14:47.530]And I'm showing how those of her crop roots just went straight through them
[00:14:52.820]and cover crops can have a higher rooting pressure tolerance than our cash crop
[00:14:57.560]roots.
[00:14:58.400]And they can push through those high bulk density layers and create those
[00:15:02.630]channels for air and water movement, but also root movement.
[00:15:06.530]So that we don't end up with a corn crop like there on the top, right?
[00:15:10.580]That has a root system. That's impeded at two to four inches,
[00:15:15.110]or really farming a lot of corn and soybean crops in two to four inches of
[00:15:19.970]soil.
[00:15:20.840]You can see why water and nutrients are so important in that sort
[00:15:25.760]of a system because that,
[00:15:27.560]that corn crop is depending on just a very small vole of soil to
[00:15:32.330]live.
[00:15:33.590]And if we can interact with the whole soil profile by creating passageways for
[00:15:38.510]cash crop roots, that's, that's early success in the system.
[00:15:43.830]So what is a root restrictive compaction layer?
[00:15:47.880]I've tried to portray this with some USDA,
[00:15:51.780]charts and pictorial descriptions.
[00:15:55.290]Farming is a disturbance.
[00:15:57.300]So when we enter a crop field with a tractor and any sort of piece of equipment,
[00:16:02.910]that's going to disturb the soil. That's the whole point.
[00:16:05.940]We're trying to interact with the soil and grow a crop,
[00:16:09.510]but tractor tire compaction results in a pretty standard compaction
[00:16:14.460]across the field, if done right to about 1.4,
[00:16:17.820]three grams per cubic centimeter and grams per cubic centimeter
[00:16:22.740]is how many kind of pounds of soil or, or,
[00:16:27.300]dense densities of soil,
[00:16:29.700]we can fit in a cup or a known vole.
[00:16:32.940]And so if you kind of sift some soil into a cup,
[00:16:36.480]you can have just a little bit of soil in there,
[00:16:38.400]but if you pound on it with your fist and pack it down,
[00:16:41.970]you can fit some more soil in that same income.
[00:16:46.770]And that's the concept of compaction. And when we drive on, on soil,
[00:16:51.270]it pushes down on the soil and it makes it a little bit more dense.
[00:16:55.560]what's interesting is that those tillage tools at depth create quite a bit more
[00:17:00.540]density than just standard tire complexion. And so that,
[00:17:04.240]that picture on the right there shows those depths and the top layer that
[00:17:09.240]old disc plan at six to eight inches,
[00:17:12.900]it's been measured at 1.9 grams per cubic centimeter.
[00:17:17.430]And so in order to describe what that means,
[00:17:20.250]I put this chart on the left that describes the dent effect, root growth,
[00:17:25.020]and the densities that restrict root growth.
[00:17:27.600]And we're talking about root restriction here, root, restricting layers,
[00:17:31.530]so that the roots just stop. They can't go deeper.
[00:17:35.070]And every soil texture has a root restriction density.
[00:17:39.930]That's less than 1.9 grams per cubic centimeter.
[00:17:44.840]So what that means is that this file,
[00:17:46.770]Pam that's achieved 1.9 grams per cubic centimeter. In most soils,
[00:17:51.120]it's functionally a root restrictive compaction layer.
[00:17:55.020]And so roots roots, can't go through it.
[00:17:57.570]And then we're farming in the soil above that layer. And if,
[00:18:01.380]and when a crack appears or a root does find a preferential path,
[00:18:06.330]yep. We'll find a way down. And in those,
[00:18:09.090]those plants are suffering in the meantime or the whole season.
[00:18:12.840]And so understanding your bone density is really important,
[00:18:16.260]but it's really important within those soil layers to understand that
[00:18:21.330]density has changed.
[00:18:23.760]I've really highlighted that no-till systems are great at retaining soil
[00:18:28.530]structure.
[00:18:29.340]We just stopped disturbing the soil so much by converting the no-till,
[00:18:34.290]but we're not regenerating soil structure with biological activity.
[00:18:39.270]And by spreading a cover crop across the whole field,
[00:18:42.030]distributing it across the whole field randomly and consistently,
[00:18:46.920]we can interact with all of the soil to regenerate social structure with those
[00:18:51.720]roots and not, not depend on iron to do that.
[00:18:57.210]So in order to portray this,
[00:18:59.310]I'm going to move on to this Nebraska's NRCS soil health initiatives
[00:19:03.210]description.
[00:19:04.470]We for the past five years been applying conservation demonstrations
[00:19:09.390]across Nebraska, and we've done that by funding,
[00:19:14.160],
[00:19:14.460]demonstration projects portraying the use of cover crops in different ways on
[00:19:19.170]farm with, with farmers that are volunteering for this activity. And,
[00:19:24.000], participating with us in the equip,
[00:19:26.490]we've established some goals to provide a local source of information,
[00:19:30.900]to validate the soil health management systems and to focus on communication.
[00:19:36.030]We're trying to get some pictures from patient from these research
[00:19:40.920]projects to further the use of cover crops in that region.
[00:19:45.270]We needed to say, how, how do cover crops work here at this location?
[00:19:50.190]And we've done that 17 times across the state in the last five years.
[00:19:54.060]And I have quite a bit of information to share with you about these,
[00:19:57.630]but I did want to portray that, these were our original goals and I,
[00:20:02.070]I feel like we've done, we've accomplished that and,
[00:20:05.090]and we've done it so well that we've set out to do it again.
[00:20:09.540]And so we're gonna, continue another five years.
[00:20:13.200]So it help initiatives with these demonstration projects.
[00:20:16.320]And so I've got a little note there on the cover crop strip that if you're a
[00:20:20.570]wanting to apply for this, , contact your NRCS office,
[00:20:24.570]we have an open opportunity right now.
[00:20:27.690]these demonstration fields really equate to on-farm research.
[00:20:32.040]And I can't iterate that enough that when we can do real research with real
[00:20:37.200]subject matter experts right there on your farm,
[00:20:40.080]that's when we arrive at solid conclusions that matter to you
[00:20:45.030]that change your management systems because it is your management system,
[00:20:49.780]you're the one doing it.
[00:20:51.430]And so on farm research is a really awesome opportunity to engage in research
[00:20:55.750]and test problems and theories that you have so that we can come up
[00:21:00.610]with good solutions. They're long-term field scale comparisons,
[00:21:05.490]they're system comparisons, they're randomizing, replicated thoughts,
[00:21:09.100]which really matters for statistical purposes.
[00:21:12.700]And they're an opportunity to form partnerships.
[00:21:15.430]They're an opportunity for you to gain in your partnerships on your farm with
[00:21:19.660]UNL extension,
[00:21:21.190]or has gone from research network specialist on UNL agronomy.
[00:21:25.360]And in NRCS,
[00:21:26.980]we can all partner with you to come up with solutions on your farm.
[00:21:31.180]So if you are interested in that,
[00:21:32.860]do stop by your inner CFO office and talk about the initiative and the signup
[00:21:37.150]closes February 18th. So I did want to mention that we do have a,
[00:21:41.800]a whole slew of other opportunities to participate in conservation
[00:21:46.150]programs. I hope you know about those, and I hope you would investigate those,
[00:21:50.920]especially if you're new to cover crops,
[00:21:53.650]we have some really great opportunities to decrease your financial risks in this
[00:21:58.240]endeavor and,
[00:21:59.330]and help you with some information and knowledge and come alongside of you to
[00:22:04.150]support you in that endeavor. So, do look, look for that.
[00:22:09.100]in conclusion of the five-year studies that we've just done,
[00:22:12.610]I have some really neat information to share with you,
[00:22:15.340]and I'm really excited today to portray baby. We,
[00:22:20.080]we came up with some case studies and some larger smary studies for the
[00:22:25.030]soil health demonstration farms. This one was in NEMA Hawk county, and I,
[00:22:29.230]I just pulled out a small segment of some of the data from the soil health
[00:22:33.400]assessments that we did for five years. And I really,
[00:22:37.300]keyed in on this and studied it. I liked the, the treatment coln.
[00:22:42.430]We were studying winter Hardy cover crops versus a winter killed cover crop.
[00:22:47.200]And that was that picture. I just showed you on the past slide,
[00:22:49.870]where there was brown dead cover crops and living growing green cover crops that
[00:22:54.190]was taken in the spring after the winter had killed the one strip out.
[00:22:59.230]And that treatment was applied on the same acres in the same place for five
[00:23:03.640]years to see if we could acculate any difference in the soil or the cropping
[00:23:08.080]system. And so we measured infiltration, soil, moisture, bulk density,
[00:23:12.370]soil temperatures at, at,
[00:23:15.520]sampling time in the fall there and soil respiration.
[00:23:18.790]And we did a composite soil health score through time.
[00:23:21.550]And when I looked through these nbers, I kind of went well, okay,
[00:23:25.840]we're off to a good start in 2018, 1920,
[00:23:29.260]and then 2021 threw us a curve ball and all the nbers changed.
[00:23:34.270]And I started to scratch my head and, and it kind of confirmed what I R
[00:23:40.590]pretty new measuring soil health is a lot like walking around with a two by four
[00:23:44.520]and a lake with a 60 mile an hour wind trying to measure the water depth.
[00:23:49.280]You're going to get a lot of variable results.
[00:23:52.310]So I portrayed that on the side there,
[00:23:54.560]if you're ever trying to measure soil properties,
[00:23:56.900]just remember you're using a two by four,
[00:24:00.020]and you need to understand that variability in the system is exactly what you're
[00:24:04.430]going to get.
[00:24:05.270]There's a lot of waves and a lot of changes that occur annually and
[00:24:10.610]over a longterm.
[00:24:12.380]So this really pinpoint precision look at this
[00:24:17.000]one,
[00:24:17.450]said the treatment strips doesn't show us that much of a conclusion after five
[00:24:22.400]years. And I'm like, is that, is that okay? What does that mean?
[00:24:26.450]Where do we go from here? Fortunately, at the beginning of this project, we,
[00:24:30.530]we partnered with UNL extension and UNL agronomy and hoarder
[00:24:35.500]culture to do a larger study.
[00:24:39.140]And I'm so excited to show you this today,
[00:24:42.410]a research project that was completed and published by Fernanda crew Peck,
[00:24:46.760]a PhD candidate student there, I had agronomy and horticulture,
[00:24:51.710]shows what the compounding effects of applying the force soil health principles
[00:24:55.880]means. And this is a, a bit of a complicated slide.
[00:25:00.110]This study it's available at that link there,
[00:25:02.420]it was in angioedema and published. there earlier this,
[00:25:06.860]this year, 2022, I believe in January. So if you want to look this up,
[00:25:11.840]you certainly can. I've got copies of this article,
[00:25:14.420]if you want to reach out to me. this study is,
[00:25:18.290]multi-variant analysis.
[00:25:20.360]What that means is we've looked at the whole system on all of the
[00:25:24.740]17 demonstration farms.
[00:25:26.750]We keyed in on 10 of the farms that had comparable system analysis.
[00:25:31.490]And then we started to look at all of the farms together. And in this analysis,
[00:25:36.260]I love how Fernandez keyed in on this side on cover crop
[00:25:41.120]use to the years of cover crop use. So,
[00:25:44.810]because we were working with all sorts of different farms,
[00:25:49.640]we had a lot of different amounts of cover crop use in their history.
[00:25:53.780]Some had zero cover crop use,
[00:25:55.490]and some had up to 12 years of cover crop use prior to this. And so that's that,
[00:26:00.190]that description at the top of the slide and that intensity is,
[00:26:03.710]is extrapolated over zero to one in the,
[00:26:06.740]in the data analysis,
[00:26:09.260]so that we would have a standard way to look at it.
[00:26:12.920]And you can start to see how these farms fall apart.
[00:26:15.860]Then when we look at the years that the cover crops were present,
[00:26:20.360]and the acculation of that benefit,
[00:26:22.760]and we start to see a separation of the data,
[00:26:25.430]not a perfect clean separation, because we're working with nature.
[00:26:30.020]We're working with that lake in a 60 mile an hour wind there's waves,
[00:26:34.190]but we can start to see acculations of results and so cover crops
[00:26:39.260]or the most effective contribution to these,
[00:26:43.890]these unknowns,
[00:26:45.630]to this multi-variant analysis cover crops had the biggest effect on all of the
[00:26:49.890]properties when, when analyzed, and you can see how the,
[00:26:52.890]the long-term cover crop use here, kind of groups,
[00:26:56.250]those larger green dots into one sector and the smallest,
[00:27:00.660]smallest green dots, the zero cover cup use. There are all sorted in one,
[00:27:04.950]one direction as well. And then some of the middle dots,
[00:27:09.060]the 3, 6, 9 year some of those separate into groups.
[00:27:15.030]it's really interesting how after 12 years of cover
[00:27:19.950]crops, the bulk densities have decreased on average,
[00:27:23.940]but not quite statistically confident. And so that's what that,
[00:27:27.990]larger box means across the average line,
[00:27:30.600]the zero line and what we can start to see groups of users
[00:27:35.490]start to show a trend towards that positive decrease in bone density.
[00:27:40.020]Infiltration rates have increased across the board marginally and
[00:27:45.000]water. Extractable organic nitrogen kind of showed some clear
[00:27:49.560]definitions of, of separation.
[00:27:52.980]that's part of the Haney test through a standard soil test,
[00:27:56.670]from various labs. And w we completed that on many of the farms,
[00:28:01.680]our soil health score,
[00:28:03.210]multi factoral analysis of the soil showed some trends,
[00:28:08.310]positive increase and change,
[00:28:10.690]especially with those longer term cover crop pods.
[00:28:15.630]So I'm super excited to see this,
[00:28:18.120]to see it published and to be able to stand up and use it as,
[00:28:20.940]as a support for what we're doing.
[00:28:23.550]What I really like is this slide here that shows what it
[00:28:28.080]means to the economics of cover crops and your whole system.
[00:28:32.490]And this really portrays that how cover crop use used over the longterm
[00:28:37.770]begins to acculate benefits.
[00:28:40.950]And we start to be able to measure it with that two by four. We start to see,
[00:28:45.120]okay, it's, it's gone past the end of the two by four. Now our,
[00:28:50.820]our benefits have increased that much. And so you see the nine and 10,
[00:28:55.140]nine and 12 year farms have,
[00:28:57.480]have arrived to a statistically confident,
[00:29:00.990]economic benefit for, for the use of cover crops.
[00:29:05.190]And it shows up in that nitrogen savings. First,
[00:29:09.030]we have also started to, test, to look at weed seed banks.
[00:29:13.890]So the acculation of weed seeds in the field,
[00:29:17.070]and we're trying to sh to show that benefit as well as in yield and,
[00:29:21.420]and then others soil, biological tests in other ways.
[00:29:26.070]So, if you're interested in this sort of information,
[00:29:30.630]you certainly are, cause you're here at the conference. I just really can't.
[00:29:34.920]Thank you enough, no extension enough.
[00:29:37.500]And the department of agronomy and horticulture,
[00:29:41.200]they have this wonderful website crop watch.
[00:29:43.690]You can sign up and get a weekly newsletter from them. We play your biweekly.
[00:29:48.340], crop watch is a great communication tool.
[00:29:51.310]It talks about current events that are coming up and,
[00:29:54.520]and current research smary of research articles and discussion are located
[00:29:59.170]there,
[00:30:00.130]but you can also access all of these on-farm research case studies there on the
[00:30:04.120]right. You can click on that link and go to an,
[00:30:07.630]into a database that has all of the on-farm research that's been conducted in
[00:30:11.680]Nebraska. That is,
[00:30:14.500]one of the foremost on-farm research networks in the nation.
[00:30:18.250]We have an acculation of data there that that will definitely help
[00:30:22.990]you.
[00:30:23.530]And we have the subject matter experts in the extension educators across the
[00:30:27.250]state to analyze and interpret that data for you
[00:30:32.260]in this case studies and help you understand them.
[00:30:34.930]So I can't iterate enough how important this partnership is for the NRCS and
[00:30:38.950]what we're trying to accomplish with land owners and this information.
[00:30:43.060]We just want to make sure that you're aware of it and get you connected to these
[00:30:46.540]folks in this resource. part of that crop watch webpage.
[00:30:51.310]There's a soil health initiative tab.
[00:30:53.740]You can go in there and read all about these demonstration projects and what
[00:30:57.040]we've accomplished.
[00:30:58.240]All of the case studies associated with that are located there.
[00:31:02.200]But the main thing I wanted to talk to him about with crop watch and on-farm
[00:31:06.340]research network is that on February 17th, they're hosting a re
[00:31:11.380]a results review, an annual review of the,
[00:31:14.720]the case studies accomplished in 2021 is scheduled for February 17th.
[00:31:19.930]And they're going to host those across the state concurrently,
[00:31:23.470]at Alliance Norfolk, Auburn, north Platte, Carney in New York,
[00:31:26.950]trying to get to one of those meetings,
[00:31:28.930]that annual results update is amazing.
[00:31:32.770]You're going to hear about everything from nitrogen management to population
[00:31:36.580]studies, cover crops to different equipment studies.
[00:31:41.290]farmers have studied everything in Nebraska and in 2021,
[00:31:45.430]that diversity was still there. , it's peer reviewed research,
[00:31:50.590]it's done on farm, and it it's statistically analyzed for confidence.
[00:31:55.810]And so you can trust it. You can acknowledge where that was,
[00:31:59.620]that research was done, what county it was done in,
[00:32:02.740]and you can utilize that information on your own farm. So check that out,
[00:32:07.240]get online register for those of that event and show up and take in all that
[00:32:12.040]information as well. We're going to be presenting there.
[00:32:14.980]These case studies on the, on farm or the soil health initiative,
[00:32:19.810]from the NRCS projects as well. So look forward to that,
[00:32:24.220]moving into this,
[00:32:26.380]presentation then about interpreting soil health results. I,
[00:32:31.310]I stepped into this,
[00:32:33.520]presentation in order to portray that and how I'm going to do that is talk about
[00:32:38.110]what's new with NRCS.
[00:32:40.520]We recently in 2021 adopted new soil health resource
[00:32:45.320]concerns or resource concern is like [inaudible] or a
[00:32:50.090]tree infestation,
[00:32:51.830]but we've also now identified soil health sorts concerns like compaction
[00:32:57.080]compaction has been something that's been with us.
[00:33:00.590]in order to support the four soil health principles,
[00:33:03.560]we've identified a couple of new ones, organic matter depletion.
[00:33:07.850]If your field is depleted in organic matter over the time over time, that's a,
[00:33:12.560]that's a resource concern.
[00:33:14.150]We've always had concentration of salt or other chemicals that doesn't happen
[00:33:18.560]very often in Nebraska, but we do have some places where that's,
[00:33:22.010]that's becoming an issue or has been such as assault Creek watershed here
[00:33:26.840]around Lincoln, but in other places,
[00:33:30.200]a new one is soil organism, habitat loss, or bigger days today,
[00:33:34.640]I described what habitat was and in your soil, that means space and shelter,
[00:33:40.040]food, and water and air.
[00:33:42.770]now we can call that a resource concern when it's,
[00:33:45.530]when it's gone or not present.
[00:33:47.810]And the last one that I'm really excited about is aggregate instability.
[00:33:51.860]If you have a soil crust, like in this picture here on the right,
[00:33:56.780]soil that's moved and dissolved become flat
[00:34:01.910]because of rains or floods, that agri Dane stability is a resource concern.
[00:34:06.590]Something that we can address with cover crops and management techniques.
[00:34:10.220]And so now we can come to your field and really hang our hat on an
[00:34:14.420]identifiable characteristic of your field to address,
[00:34:18.290]to target with our activities.
[00:34:20.510]And so that target that objective is really,
[00:34:23.630]really important to establish upfront.
[00:34:26.390]And when you start to think about the use of cover crops and soil health
[00:34:29.510]management, please, please,
[00:34:31.190]please write down what your first objective is right now and put it on your,
[00:34:35.630]your office wall and hang it there and date it that way five years
[00:34:40.550]from now, you can look at that sheet of paper and go,
[00:34:45.590]Hey, my first goal was to stop erosion, have I stopped the erosion?
[00:34:50.600]And then you can know whether you're successful after all that time.
[00:34:54.170]But if you don't write that down every year,
[00:34:56.780]your objective changes a little bit every year, your perspective grows.
[00:35:01.100]And pretty soon you're starting to hope for some other
[00:35:05.750]romantic notion that wasn't your original objective. And so we can,
[00:35:10.280]we can have a objective shift or lose track.
[00:35:15.410]Another thing that's new in the NRCS. We have a brand new crop land,
[00:35:18.470]infield soil health assessment worksheet.
[00:35:21.410]We can come to your farm and identified those soil health
[00:35:26.030]resource concerns with an assessment worksheet.
[00:35:30.470]This nationally adopted worksheet is, is really great.
[00:35:33.980]we worked through that to look at the indicators of those resource concerns,
[00:35:37.980]soil cover residue, breakdown, soil structure, or some of them.
[00:35:42.660]And we can then use those indicators to work through a decision support
[00:35:47.640]tree, with a preponderance of evidence,
[00:35:50.430]we can support a determination of yes or no.
[00:35:53.580]We have that resource concern,
[00:35:57.000]and that helps us analyze where we start off.
[00:36:00.330]So we've got a benchmark of a resource concern and what factors cause that
[00:36:05.250]resource concern to be present.
[00:36:07.680]And then we can move into some decision support,
[00:36:12.300]brand new for 2022. We have some new conservation practices.
[00:36:16.830]It is really rare for us to adopt new conservation practices and the NRCS
[00:36:22.080]every year we have one or two, but for soil health activities,
[00:36:26.730]we haven't seen anything since cover crop became a new conservation
[00:36:31.200]practice. no till management,
[00:36:33.900]nutrient management crop rotations. Well,
[00:36:36.750]now we can support you with a soil health testing activity. We can come in,
[00:36:41.490]with a [inaudible] contract and fund some soil health testing
[00:36:46.410]on in your field.
[00:36:47.880]We can establish a benchmark and then we can come back and reevaluate that after
[00:36:51.600]you've made a management change. Okay.
[00:36:55.930]The new conservation practice is called soil carbon amendment.
[00:37:00.340]I've kind of listed the four ways that, are included in that soil,
[00:37:05.080]carbon amendment conservation practice. We can apply compost.
[00:37:08.380]We can apply carbon amendments, such as coal Ash. we can apply bio char,
[00:37:13.090]which is a newer,
[00:37:16.840]resource that we can acquire or there's folks trying out wood chips and
[00:37:20.800]different combinations of woodchips and manure and compost and wood chips and
[00:37:25.180]different ways of putting carbon out there on the ground and getting long
[00:37:28.630]lasting carbon on the soil surface. So I'm going to key in, on,
[00:37:32.810]on these two and talk more about soil sampling on this picture on the right was
[00:37:37.240]taken in hall county. it looks, looks pretty familiar. What wait,
[00:37:41.980]probably hall county, Texas, , counting of breath.
[00:37:47.650],
[00:37:48.250]there are just a few soil scientists with belt buckles that big in hall county,
[00:37:52.690]but not very many. So this picture is
[00:37:58.060]kind of portrays a different perspective,
[00:38:00.340]but I hope your crop field doesn't look like that.
[00:38:03.490]there's some pretty degraded soil down in Texas and my, my boss,
[00:38:07.690]Carlos B the rail just moved from Texas up here, and I like to,
[00:38:11.560]to poke fun at Texans. but
[00:38:14.980]this soil sampling practice we can come to your field,
[00:38:17.800]helped you sample the soil, consistently and,
[00:38:20.840]and precisely apply these soil. Collections,
[00:38:25.570]send those off to a soils lab and have a quantitative analysis of
[00:38:30.460]the soil, physical, chemical, and biological properties. Finally,
[00:38:33.910]we can support you with financial assistance to,
[00:38:36.550]to measure those things in your field and to understand them together.
[00:38:41.080]So then we can develop a five-year recommendation.
[00:38:44.410]We can return in three years and in sample again,
[00:38:48.220]and we can apply those conservation practices through time with that same
[00:38:52.000]contract. So I'm really excited about this opportunity.
[00:38:56.080]that's all supported through the soil health tech note that was written this,
[00:39:01.090], collaborative project to,
[00:39:04.160]to acculate all of the scientific information and support these conservation
[00:39:08.650]practices was no small feat and it was accomplished in 2019.
[00:39:14.230], that fundamental science based conservation delivery is,
[00:39:18.410]is what the NRCS really stands up on. And it took a lot of
[00:39:25.090]work in this,
[00:39:26.440]this new day and age to actually pull that off and get it through the process.
[00:39:31.030]And we're really, supportive of,
[00:39:33.880]of these conservation practices because the science supports it.
[00:39:37.900]And so we're in this, two 16 soil health testing.
[00:39:42.640]We're looking at aggregate stability, soil,
[00:39:45.070]organic carbon active carbon,
[00:39:47.800]which is analyzed through a permeate oxidizable carbon test
[00:39:52.660]microbial activity. And in the short term, carbon mineralization,
[00:39:57.160]the things that turn over nutrients in your soil and bio-available nitrogen,
[00:40:02.200]we can look at the or organisms and activities that make
[00:40:06.820]nitrogen available to your cash crop.
[00:40:10.840]I really wanted to identify the importance of the combination of these tests.
[00:40:15.460], when I,
[00:40:16.150]when I look at the combination of these and all of the ways that we're analyzing
[00:40:20.290]your soils, biological, chemical, and physical aspects,
[00:40:23.860]it really comes down to how your management interacts with the habitat
[00:40:29.110]and the habitat supports the biological community.
[00:40:33.610]And those biological communities are what's
[00:40:37.060]honorable well for the functions of the soil.
[00:40:40.270]And so those microbes, the things living in your soil,
[00:40:44.410]they conduct nutrient cycling, they build soil organic matter,
[00:40:48.430]and they aggregate the soil. And when we, when we do those,
[00:40:52.390]that's when we can start to test the soil for those processes and understand
[00:40:57.160]how well the community is,
[00:40:59.050]is present or not present and how your management is impacting those
[00:41:04.030]aspects of the soil. So we can look at the resistance to erosion,
[00:41:08.500]carbon sequestration, nutrient availability, et cetera.
[00:41:12.430]So I really want to portray that, that combination of tests, aggregates,
[00:41:16.840]stability, soil, organic carbon, active carbon, and short term carbon,
[00:41:20.530]and bio-available nitrogen is really important. And so we're,
[00:41:25.210]we're gonna be able to support you in that, with that test.
[00:41:27.850]So I put this picture on and I said, let's just dive right in. wait,
[00:41:32.930]hold on. Let's form a plan.
[00:41:35.600]Let's let's come together and look at our resource concerns. That's why we've,
[00:41:39.830]we've developed those new resource concerns.
[00:41:42.500]Compaction AgriStability might be an example in your field,
[00:41:46.310]and we need to identify the,
[00:41:47.810]the management activities that that can be used to address those resource
[00:41:52.430]concerns,
[00:41:53.450]not just dive in whole hog and try something that won't work in
[00:41:58.250]your field or won't even address the issue.
[00:42:02.240]maybe we could real quick just dive in and apply wood chips,
[00:42:06.440]all the customer field, three inches,
[00:42:07.910]the that's going to cause an ecological problem.
[00:42:11.570]So we might want to avoid that.
[00:42:14.750]however we can correctly and,
[00:42:18.620]prescriptively applied with chips, you know,
[00:42:20.810]mix of manure and hold some of those nutrients and do some really good things in
[00:42:24.260]your field if done well in partnership with a plan. So,
[00:42:29.030]I can't iterate enough how many decisions there are, you know,
[00:42:32.570]in a conservation plan,
[00:42:36.680]to support soil health.
[00:42:38.240]We need to look at the cover crop mix and the seeding rate and the timing we
[00:42:41.930]need to look at the residue, the crop rotation, the nutrient management,
[00:42:45.740]and the types of ways that we can add carbon to your,
[00:42:50.390]to your soil. So we've got this new brain,
[00:42:53.720]new planning and monitoring matrix.
[00:42:56.870]This tool allows us to look at your resource concern and then look at
[00:43:01.520]some short-term and long-term ways to manage for that resource
[00:43:06.320]concern. And it's related directly to our conservation practices.
[00:43:10.490]This key linkage is really,
[00:43:12.140]really important to support our financial contribution to this
[00:43:16.760]plan and to allow it to be part of a, of a conservation program.
[00:43:21.950]And so this tool right here is really fundamental.
[00:43:27.110]So a carbon amendment is a,
[00:43:28.910]is a brand new conservation practice that I'm really excited about.
[00:43:33.470]we've known the benefits and,
[00:43:35.740]and continue to see and track the benefits of the applying manure to crop
[00:43:40.730]fields.
[00:43:41.990]But we really haven't seen or supported or track the benefits of applying mature
[00:43:46.700]compost, soil, carbon amendments,
[00:43:49.820]like coal Ash or bio char or wood chips. We just don't,
[00:43:54.650]that's so new. And we don't know all of the ways that that's going to interact
[00:44:00.440]with your crop field and we've established some,
[00:44:03.920]some application recommendations and some support for,
[00:44:07.790]for that practice in this, conservation practice standard.
[00:44:13.160]So we can apply that compost we've outlined what that means, what compost is.
[00:44:18.230]That's really important for the compost industry.
[00:44:21.290]it's not manure out of the feedlot,
[00:44:23.810]but it's manure and other amendments that result in a mature compost.
[00:44:28.460]That's really heavy in carbon. it's pretty low in nitrogen and other,
[00:44:33.540]other nutrients. And so it's,
[00:44:35.850]it's quite a bit different than composted manure or compost or, or,
[00:44:39.530]or just manure in general. Manure is a, it's a great nutrient resource,
[00:44:44.610]definitely a contribution to soil health.
[00:44:47.880]And we need to use that as a resource,
[00:44:50.580]but that falls into a different scope that would be in nutrient management.
[00:44:55.260]And we need to outline a manure application plan and make sure that we're
[00:44:59.490]applying based on the nutrients available in that crop field and the nutrient
[00:45:03.570]needs of the crop. compost is different than that.
[00:45:07.260]And so we've outlined how, and when we can apply that,
[00:45:11.130]other carbon amendments such as coal Ash, there's a few sources of coal Ash in,
[00:45:15.960]in Nebraska.
[00:45:17.280]And that inert substance is just carbon after it's been burnt,
[00:45:21.660]it's it's pure carbon, and it can be applied and,
[00:45:26.010]and really show a benefit in eroded soils or soils that are really low in
[00:45:30.030]organic matter. And so if you come across to,
[00:45:33.870]a resource of coal Ash or a source of that,
[00:45:37.710]that might be an opportunity for you to add some carbon to your soil profile.
[00:45:42.450]Bio char is a brand new kind of resource that we've come
[00:45:47.430]along to support.
[00:45:49.170]Bio char is a low temperature burn of wood that results in charcoal,
[00:45:54.810]and that charcoal is charged.
[00:45:57.390]It's different than Ash and it's different than compost.
[00:46:01.200]It has a whole different quality structure.
[00:46:04.550]It's application to the soil ecosystem is really
[00:46:09.150]phenomenal. It's like a giant hotel for soil organisms.
[00:46:14.460]It can store water and nutrients at the same time.
[00:46:17.430]And when we applied bio char to a field that can take it from zero to 60,
[00:46:21.450]really, really fast. So we've outlined application rates for that,
[00:46:25.890]or working with partners to identify sources and,
[00:46:28.760]and build them an enterprise to provide bio char for that application.
[00:46:34.140]What are the materials I've talked about that you want to be careful with Woody
[00:46:37.650]materials they're really high in carbon and they're an edible carbon they're
[00:46:41.920]cellulose.
[00:46:43.020]And so the nutrients that are required to digest that car high carbon
[00:46:47.760]source need to be provided like a good maneuver wood chip mix.
[00:46:52.740]And in other ways to do that,
[00:46:54.480]or a really small application of those wood chips in order to not
[00:46:59.460]have a nutrient tie up in a long-term situation, you need your crop field,
[00:47:03.810]but there's a really great application for that wood resource,
[00:47:07.410]and it can be really useful in your crop field. So, ask us about that.
[00:47:11.940]If you have a,
[00:47:14.250]a place to get that would be sourced from bio char,
[00:47:18.210]it's a stable form of carbon.
[00:47:19.980]I've put this slide next to identify that it doesn't just happen by accident.
[00:47:24.750]It's not really easily achieved producing
[00:47:30.280]IO char. It's a really low temperature burn and it takes a long time.
[00:47:34.600]And so they're building equipment.
[00:47:36.220]We're not putting a plug out for this company,
[00:47:38.530]but I just put this on the screen to show you that it's not just a fire in the
[00:47:42.400]backyard making charcoal, but it's,
[00:47:45.370]it's a paralysis that is controlled in a,
[00:47:47.970]in a machine that generates bio char as a product on these machines
[00:47:52.930]can generate electricity. They can generate heat for other processes,
[00:47:57.730]drying out materials or heating buildings.
[00:48:01.840]so there's a lot of secondary benefits to producing bio char that we're
[00:48:06.400]creating as well. So what does all that mean? Those new,
[00:48:11.650]everything new in the NRCS,
[00:48:13.750]it means that we can conduct still soil testing with you.
[00:48:16.990]Now we can evaluate the environmental benefits and outcomes.
[00:48:22.000]We can make a plan and adjust the plan three to five years down the road,
[00:48:25.960]and we can support you in your continuing education.
[00:48:28.930]We can come alongside of you and go on this journey with you and we can measure
[00:48:33.070]success and recognize the benefits.
[00:48:35.560]So when we transitioned from having a compaction layer, like the top picture,
[00:48:40.130]we use cover crops to roots, not iron member.
[00:48:44.650]And we start to build in some biological habitat and have some big critters like
[00:48:48.310]this earth worm show up. We can now track that change with you and your field.
[00:48:52.600]And we can quantify that over time and help you understand
[00:48:57.610]have I achieved healthy soil or not? So I would just iterate.
[00:49:01.780]If you need more information on this contact, your local NRCS office,
[00:49:06.520]those folks are subject matter experts. We have a field office technical guide.
[00:49:10.750]You can pull up all these resources and check them out online.
[00:49:15.130]And if you don't understand your soil,
[00:49:17.710]in RCS has a web soil survey and that's,
[00:49:21.520]that's all of the soil survey books on the, on a website. I mean,
[00:49:25.750]you're outside. So go check that out
[00:49:30.220]again. We're an equal opportunity provider and employer,
[00:49:33.790]and we're not endorsing anybody in any of this,
[00:49:36.760]and I'll just leave you with this. How can you improve your soil health?
[00:49:40.720]That's a really important question.
[00:49:43.810]And in order to understand that we need to dig in and learn a lot.
[00:49:46.870]And so together we can learn about what that means and,
[00:49:50.400]and your situation and your circstance.
[00:49:53.260]So I've left you with my contact information there.
[00:49:55.450]Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions,
[00:49:58.060]but if you don't want to just go dig a hole,
[00:50:01.480]take a tape measure out there and look for that horizontal fracture in your crop
[00:50:05.470]field and find out how deep it is and where your roots are stopping or not
[00:50:10.150]stopping. Hopefully you don't have that problem.
[00:50:13.090]But about 90% of the fields that I dig in, have a root,
[00:50:16.150]restrictive compaction layer. So that's, that's our target. That's the,
[00:50:20.920]the resource concern that we need to address in Nebraska. Thanks a lot,
[00:50:24.910]everyone, everybody, Nathan, I saw you jp up.
[00:50:28.820]Yep. let's give Aaron around applause. Thanks, Aaron.
[00:50:35.150]We do have a one online question. so hopefully Erin, you can hear me.
[00:50:39.950]you talked up no-till can cover crops, work with Ridge till,
[00:50:43.940]or is ridge till still a sin, just like a disk.
[00:50:50.350]So no Ridge, there was not a thin Ridge.
[00:50:55.630]It was a tool just like cover crops are a tool and cover crops can be used
[00:51:00.280]anywhere for any purpose, but if you don't know why you're using them,
[00:51:04.390]then you're,
[00:51:04.890]you're running the risk of coming up with more problems than solutions.
[00:51:08.980]So I'd like to know what your irrigation system is in that Ridge till
[00:51:13.750]system and why your Ridgestone in the first place. If you have a water problem,
[00:51:18.280]and you're trying to get your growing point up out of the water and your Ridge
[00:51:22.810]towing to get the corn and beans up on that Ridge,
[00:51:26.290]maybe you have an infiltration rate problem.
[00:51:28.750]Maybe you could use cover crops to address your soil structure,
[00:51:33.490]that compaction layer that's impacting water infiltration and work your way out
[00:51:38.320]of needing to Ridge till if that's the problem that you're trying to solve.
[00:51:43.960]continuing to Ridge till will continue to create that compaction layer in
[00:51:48.730]the, in between the rows, that tillage tool,
[00:51:52.690]but the pressure down on the soil,
[00:51:54.640]is it ways that tillage tool actually has a weight.
[00:51:58.090]Most dis are applying a barrel 250 PSI per blade,
[00:52:02.500]and that PSI torques the soil and it creates that compaction layer.
[00:52:07.540]So continuing to do that continues to, to build that compaction layer.
[00:52:13.000]if you're dependent on those ridges and that compaction layer for your
[00:52:17.230]irrigation system, if you're flood irrigating,
[00:52:21.040]flood irrigation is dependent upon compaction to get water from point a to point
[00:52:25.690]B. You don't want all the water to soak in in the first 10 feet,
[00:52:29.680]and you really needed to,
[00:52:31.190]to transport player across the field and to stay in place long enough to,
[00:52:35.620]to wake into the soil.
[00:52:38.920]Wicking rate is about a half an inch per hour.
[00:52:41.320]And that's the infiltration rate of most convinced conventional,
[00:52:46.300]gravity irrigated systems. So, you know,
[00:52:49.060]we need to talk more about your system to understand why you're using
[00:52:52.720]Ridgeville. We need to understand why you want to use cover crops,
[00:52:55.960]and then we can start to formulate a plan of how to do that and,
[00:52:59.620]and objectives of why. So great question.
[00:53:04.540]We do have an extra microphone. Is there a question from the crowd here?
[00:53:08.530]Cause we have two audiences,
[00:53:09.760]so we appreciate the online and the in-person audience here this morning.
[00:53:13.360]So any questions here in the crowd?
[00:53:23.590]So.
[00:53:26.190]So before I, plant corn in the spring, I'm primarily flat.
[00:53:31.290]So I was first say that I'm not have a lot of highly erodible
[00:53:35.580]hillsides. so when I feel cultivate in the spring,
[00:53:40.020]a lot of times this has done in April and especially the last couple of years,
[00:53:42.810]our weeds have not been very big when we do it.
[00:53:45.510]So I would say I'm probably even going less than this in depth high to this.
[00:53:51.180]And then I'm turning around,
[00:53:52.420]moving half that soil away with my planter and I'm planning my corn
[00:53:57.420]around two and a half inches deep. Isn't my corn actually getting below
[00:54:04.140]that area that you're talking about.
[00:54:07.200]That's what I've always wondered when I am doing my tillage,
[00:54:10.920]because I can definitely feel that area that you're talking about when I'm
[00:54:14.160]checking out deep, the field cultivators going isn't my plant,
[00:54:17.490]or actually getting the seed below that.
[00:54:21.990]Did you get that Aaron shallow?
[00:54:25.960]Yep. I, I sure did Nathan,
[00:54:29.170]great question and really good point on the planar opener and
[00:54:33.520]penetration of the seed and planting deep.
[00:54:36.340]Those are all highly recommended activities.
[00:54:38.890]I hope Paul Jasa we'll talk about that. he usually does,
[00:54:43.660]that planar opener does penetrate past some of the,
[00:54:47.660]the shallow compaction layers.
[00:54:50.290]And I've actually got some soils that some soil peds,
[00:54:53.290]some big modelists some big dirt clods that I've glued permanent,
[00:54:58.510]that show that planar opener and how their roots go past that first restrictive
[00:55:03.010]layer. The problem is that nine times out of 10,
[00:55:06.370]there's another restrictive layer at six or eight inches that's even worse.
[00:55:10.450]The field compaction or field cultivation layer had two to four inches.
[00:55:13.750]That's shallow enough that freeze and thaw events address that compaction layer
[00:55:18.790]and your cash crop roots usually have enough time in place to,
[00:55:22.120]to address that compaction there, that shallow layer, the deeper,
[00:55:25.810]the compaction layer area is less
[00:55:30.670]addressed or less,
[00:55:32.800]impact that it is by all of those ways that compaction are alleviated.
[00:55:37.300]There's less biological activity at depth.
[00:55:39.670]There's less freezing and thawing that depth.
[00:55:41.890]There's less water movement at depth.
[00:55:44.260]And so all of those things really cause that compaction layer to persist through
[00:55:48.580]time. That's why after 50 years of not plowing a field,
[00:55:52.600]you can still go and find an old pile pan at 12 to 16 inches of
[00:55:57.370]depth that old plow pan is just sitting there waiting for a root to come
[00:56:02.260]through and re structuralize it. And if,
[00:56:06.370]if biology doesn't get down there, then it just persists through time.
[00:56:11.020]And that's, that's the big problem.
[00:56:13.420]So the planner opener typically creates a preferential crack in soil that
[00:56:18.310]has an aggregate instability issue.
[00:56:21.340]And that preferential crack don't know if you've
[00:56:26.650]in this state on your land, hopefully not, but you know, drought,
[00:56:30.010]you'll see the soil crack right down your planter opener,
[00:56:33.640]and it'll actually tear apart your germinating roots.
[00:56:37.390]it can expose the seeds.
[00:56:39.670]You can get water erosion right down that crack and it can open up that and
[00:56:44.170]that, that preferential open opening means that that instability of the soil
[00:56:49.270]didn't didn't have the continued capacity to function, to stay structural.
[00:56:54.190]And so not having the planar opener. Yes,
[00:56:58.060]because the seeds are germinating at, or below that compaction layer,
[00:57:02.980]but that's not the whole picture.
[00:57:04.450]It's really the aggregate instability issue on the surface that we're trying to
[00:57:07.690]address rather than the, the compaction at the surface.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

2022 Eastern Nebraska Soil Health Conference Presentations - Aaron Hird

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments