The big-picture idea of healthy, functioning soils is so appealing: more moisture available to the plant, more nutrients recycling, fewer weeds, lower inputs… what’s not to like, right? To the busy farmer, are the ideas of healthy functioning soils just that… ideas? Put another way we should ask: “what has merit and what is myth”? At Merit or Myth our mission is, through the social media, to engage with South Dakota-based farmers, researchers and conservationists to gain a better understanding of healthy, functioning soils. We want to engage in the context of the management issues that farmers most care about including residue, soil temperature, soil moisture and weed management.
“The farm economy is a tough life to make ends meet,” says Frankfort, South Dakota farmer Jamie Johnson. Of course, if you’re reading this, you probably don’t need to be reminded. Farming has always been hard work and with soil degradation, sagging commodity prices and input costs on the rise, it doesn’t appear to be…
If you’ve spent any time around the soil health movement, you’ve probably stumbled onto an odd video or two of farmers out in their fields burying underwear. Created by Canadian researchers, this “Tighty Whities Experiment” is a great visual demonstration of the benefits of regenerative agriculture… But what does it actually demonstrate? What’s the point?…
Diversity is one of the leading principles of the soil health movement. But can the affects of incorporating diversity into an operation be quantified? Research Microbiologist Dr. Mike Lehman (ARS) set out to find out in this 16 year field experiment… and man, are the numbers impressive!
There are many different farming tools and methods, but fundamentally, there are only two ways to farm – with Mother Nature or against her. Unfortunately, conventional agriculture has sided with the latter. Only in recent years has the idea of working alongside Mother Nature picked up momentum. One operation that’s been ahead of the curve…
