Merit or Myth

Better Soil Structure, Better Planting: a Series with Kent Vlieger (1/7)

Video

In February 2020, there was much anxiety around the planting season as because of so much moisture much of South Dakota had received in the previous year. In May 2020, Kent Vlieger, SD NRCS state soil health specialist followed up in Garretson SD and Hutchinson County, SD to see how the planting season was going. …

Ep 13: Resilience (Soil Structure and Conservation)

Podcast

This podcast is the fifth in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer….

Ep 11: Resilience (Weeds, Covers and Termination)

Podcast

This podcast is the third in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer….

Ep 09: Moisture, Rutting and Covers

Podcast

This podcast is the first in the series 6 “Resilience” podcast series we recorded in Mitchell, SD (podcasts 1-5) and Crooks (Podcast 6), the backdrop was the extremely wet weather on 2019; at the time of recording the James River had frozen outside of it’s banks and there was every expectation of another wet summer….

Ep 08: Farmer Jesse Hall

Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with Jesse Hall out of Arlington, South Dakota to explore his journey into no-till, cover crops and livestock integration! We’ve made a transition away from our ‘SD Cropcast’ platform and towards another podcast we run: ‘Plug and Plant’. This is the second South Dakota Podcast on this new platform….

Overcoming Ruts and Erosion

Video

In extreme weather conditions like 2019, issues like rutting are unavoidable—though that doesn’t mean farmers don’t get some say. While ruts are still a reality, farmers are finding that no-till fields feature far fewer of them than conventional. With that in mind, how can no-till and conventional till farmers best handle existing ruts and what…

A Year Like No Other

Video

‘You are not alone!’ ‘There is hope!’ If there were two messages from the eight South Dakota farmers we sat down with in early 2020, these would be it. 2018 and 2019 were tough years. This remains true for all farmers—regenerative, conventional and everywhere in between—but by growing resilience through soil health, many producers are…

A New Approach to Farming (Promo)

Video

‘If I was still farming like a lot of my neighbors I’d be as bored as they are.’ See how one family farm in Castlewood, South Dakota has shaken things up in this exclusive promo of our upcoming six-part series that explores all things soil health!

Why Incorporate Livestock? (Hall 5/6)

Video

Producer Jesse Hall spent several years at SDSU working alongside researchers exploring soil health. Hear how one particular study opened his eyes about the benefits of livestock integration and why he decided to incorporate them in his operation.

Avoiding Sidewall Compaction (Hall 4/6)

Video

‘Sidewall compaction’ is a term many may be unfamiliar with, but it can have dire effects on a producer’s yield. Sidewall compaction is the result of poor soil structure. It happens when planting occurs in wet, degraded soils that have often been subjected to tillage. This compaction prevents the roots from growing outward and the…