Project Overview
Commodities
- Agronomic: corn, grass (misc. perennial), rye
Practices
- Crop Production: conservation tillage, cover crops
- Education and Training: farmer to farmer, mentoring, on-farm/ranch research, youth education
- Soil Management: organic matter, soil analysis, soil physics, soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: social networks
Summary:
With a focus on improving crop yields, reducing the use of chemicals, minimizing tillage and maximizing soil health, we have incorporated cover crops on our farm. We’ve seen benefits in weed suppression, crop yields and enhanced crop health. These benefits are impactful but we would like to gain a better understanding of how these practices are changing the health of our soils. There are an overwhelming number of choices available to measure soil attributes and minimal guidance regarding how to use the information gathered to make management decisions. The cost of soil analyses can be enormous and this investment should be made from an informed perspective but there is a lack of resources available to farmers when choosing soil tests as well as information on how those results align with visual and in-field observations. This project will evaluate multiple on-farm and lab-based tests and technologies to measure soil attributes, comparing minimal till with cover crops to conventional tillage without cover crops with a focus on soil water dynamics. High School students will work closely with the farmers, technology advisors and agronomists during the project to assist with conducting all aspects of the sample collections, field observations, data interpretation and dissemination.
Project objectives:
- Compare data from multiple lab-based soil tests, on-farm tests and in-field observations to determine which tools work best to help make future management decisions.
2 Engage High School students in all aspects of the project to incite curiosity, develop communication skills and build soil health knowledge.
3. Disseminate information via videos and lectures to assist other farmers, agronomists and extension educators on tools available to measure soil health.
Long-term Objectives- Develop a relationship with high school faculty that supports engagement with agriculture community to catalyze interactions with students to build interest in agriculture sustainability initiatives and educational opportunities.