Merit or Myth

Engaging

South Dakota’s

Farming Community
in the Pursuit of

Healthy,
Functioning Soils

Working Alongside

Natural Systems

to Benefit the

South Dakota
Farmer

Exploring

Holistic Views

that help keep
the Mt. Rushmore State

Farmer

in Business

Applying the ideas of

Transformational Science

for a

Sustainable Future

Our Mission

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.

Latest News

Exploring Cover Crops and Diversity (Dagel 1/4)

Video

3 MIN WATCH: “One of the first opportunities I saw after joining Olsen Custom Farms was to stretch our rotation out,” says agronomist Kurt Dagel “To take that power of diversity and make it work for us because it’s free. I look for many benefits to come out of it.”   Check out our interview…

What Our Underwear Have to Tell Us

Video

The past few videos, we’ve been unpacking what this ‘tighty whities’ experiment is all about. In this video, we get another farmer and district conservationist’s take on the process and what they learned along the way!

The Future of Farming

Blog

“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…