Here’s the reality: a transition to no-till is most likely going to require a change in equipment – but the role of equipment is no the only consideration As Doug Sieck says in our latest video, “The equipment is important (to get started), but at a certain point, the more important part becomes how are…
15 Trillion Laborers w/ Dr. Lehman – Division of Labor (2/3)
3:30 WATCH: If the soil health movement has taught us one thing it’s that healthy soils produce healthy crops. But when we say “healthy soils” what does that actually mean? Well… in short, it means THEY’RE ALIVE! In the second video of our three-part series with Dr. Mike Lehman, we dive head first into the…
15 Trillion Laborers (Microbes) w/ Dr. Lehman – Intro (1/3)
We met with Research Microbiologist Dr. Mike Lehman (ARS) on the research station in Brookings, South Dakota to talk soil microbes. Dr. Lehman isn’t just a well-respected scientist, it turns out that he’s also a great communicator. In this and the next two videos, Dr. Lehman takes a shovel full of soil and talks about…
Merit or Myth: Season 2
In our first Merit or Myth season, we discussed the issue of no-till in the context of residue management, soil water (mainly infiltration), soil temperature, weeds and economics. In reality, a companion between no-till an conventional till system is very difficult to compare is one only looks at one factor (e.g., residue). When we spoke…
Soil Temperature Part 1: Comparing Conventionally Tilled vs. No Tilled Temperatures
In this video, the USDA-NRCS’s (Brookings, SD) Eric Barsness and SDSU’s Anthony Bly discusses and experiment the NRCS conducted in Vermillion SD on a conventionally tilled and a long-term no-tilled field. Eric buried two temperature probes at 2” and the probes were able to record temperatures every 15 minutes over the entire growing season of…