Grain and Vegetable Production in a Rotationally-Grazed, Pasture-Dominant Ley System: Implications for Soil Health, Soil Microbiome, and Forage

Commodities

• Agronomic: buckwheat, clovers, corn, grass (misc. perennial), mustard, potatoes, rye, sunflower, wheat
• Vegetables: beans, garlic, sweet corn
• Animals: bovine, poultry, sheep
• Animal Products: eggs, fiber, fur, leather, meat

Practices

• Animal Production: grazing - multispecies, grazing - rotational, pasture fertility, rangeland/pasture management
• Crop Production: cover crops, cropping systems, other
• Natural Resources/Environment: carbon sequestration
• Production Systems: agroecosystems, holistic management, integrated crop and livestock systems
• Soil Management: organic matter, soil analysis, soil chemistry, soil microbiology, soil quality/health
• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems

Ley rotations have been shown to
provide a diversity of ecosystem service benefits, including
regulatory(such as climate and flood regulation), cultural (such
as food security, farming communities, and recreation), and
supportive (such as soil health, nutrient cycling, and
biodiversity). However, the degree and types of services may vary
depending on the  management of the ley rotation system.
Additionally, some aspects, such as the impact of livestock
grazing or the impacts of the ley system on the soil microbiome,
require further study. 

Our objective is to clarify the
soil and forage impacts of a no-input ley system with a 5- to
6-year pasture phase, incorporating rotational livestock grazing,
and a 2- to 3-year mixed cereal and vegetable rotation. This type
of pasture-dominant ley system with diverse cereal and vegetable
rotations holds potential for increasing the full suite of
ecosystem service benefits for small to midsize meat and dairy
farmers in the Northeast.

By incorporating laboratory tests
of soil health, soil microbiology, and forage quality at all
phases of the ley rotation, this study will investigate and
document that this system produces not only the soil health
benefits observed by other peer studies on various ley systems,
but also forage benefits (or at least neutral forage impacts) for
the adopting livestock farmer. Additionally this study will begin
to fill the gaps in our understanding of diverse, grazed,
multi-species leys integrated with both cereal and vegetable
production, particularly the impacts on soil microbial
communities. 

Our objective is to clarify the
soil and forage impacts of a no-input ley system with a 5- to
6-year pasture phase, incorporating livestock grazing, and a 2-
to 3-year mixed grain and vegetable rotation. Specifically, we
will determine if this type of system will impact soil carbon
sequestration. We will also look for other soil health effects,
particularly changes in aggregate stability, bulk density,
nitrogen, phosphorus, and other macro-minerals. Additionally, we
will study the impacts on the soil microbiome. Does the physical
disturbance of the ley or the selection of crop species have an
impact on the taxon diversity and functional biodiversity of the
soil microbiome? 

We further will test if these ley
rotations can improve the nutrition of the resulting
pasture-phase forage. We will test potential effects on energy
content and crude protein, as well as various macro- and
micro-minerals. 

Our hope is that this type of
system can be expanded to small livestock and dairy farmers in
the Northeast, to provide benefits to the farmer in both economic
diversification and soil and forage quality outcomes. But first,
we must better quantify the effects this type of ley has on the
ecology and productivity of our regional system.