Soil Health Renaissance Part I: Measuring Soil Health
Every farm magazine seems to
include an article these days focusing on improving soil health, and there are
an increasing number of conferences and workshops also addressing this
issue. We’re definitely seeing a
movement underway in our nation to raise awareness about the importance of soil
health.
I’m pleased to be a part of The Soil Renaissance, an initiative of
the Farm Foundation, NFP and The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, to develop a
cohesive and comprehensive approach to soil health. It’s exciting to consider what we can
accomplish through the synergy created as those concerned with soil health pool
their resources, experience and scientific knowledge.
I look forward to sharing with
you in the future The Soil Renaissance
strategic plan now under development.
One of the first steps is to define soil health. How do you measure it? How can you easily and economically identify what
is lacking and pinpoint the steps to take to improve the soil to bring maximum
return for your investment?
We all know that the viability of
the soil we farm involves more than just the levels of nitrogen, phosphorous
and potassium. We need an equally
affordable and reliable measure of other essential components such as water
holding capacity, organic matter and micronutrients. I believe we are getting closer to that goal,
and I am excited about some of the new research underway.
I remember growing up in South
Dakota wheat country that we would leave the ground fallow one year on the
theory that it would retain moisture for the following year’s crop. We now view that as a false economy that has
been replaced by no-till and continuous cropping. In fact, we may have been far better off to
put a cover crop on that land to retain moisture, limit erosion and keep the
microbes well fed.
In recent years we’ve made
significant advances in targeting fertilizer to the precise area of the field
where it’s needed, in developing seeds for maximum yield and minimal
susceptibility to disease and drought, in directing every drop of water where
it can do the most good and in precisely placing each seed to optimize
available sunlight. We’re making excellent
use of the resources we put into the ground.
Now we need to focus on the
ground itself. Today there’s a great
opportunity for conservation leaders and innovators to step forward and work
with NRCS, land grant universities and private foundations to establish benchmarks
for soil health—protocols for testing soil viability and practices for
improving soil health. The soil, of
course, is the most basic element necessary for plant growth, and it’s critical
to maximize this resource as well.
The facts about soil health
aren’t pretty. You’ve probably heard
them before. Over the past 150 years,
we’ve lost half the topsoil. Globally,
about 40 percent of the soil on land used for agriculture is classified as
degraded or seriously degraded. Worse
yet, topsoil is disappearing at a rate 10 to 40 times faster than it can be
replenished naturally. At that rate of
loss, some experts think there’s only about 60 years worth of topsoil
left. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that there are some
promising efforts that are focusing on soil health. In light of the challenge we face to feed the
9 billion people who will share our planet by 2050, that’s essential.
One of those groundbreaking
efforts is the work that researchers at Cornell University are doing in categorizing
and measuring soil health. They’ve
developed a testing framework (See http://soilhealth.cals.cornell.edu/)
and are offering fee-for-service testing.
Further, Cornell scientists have partnered with the NRCS Agronomist in
New Hampshire to identify soil problems and appropriate NRCS practices to
remedy them. (Check out the Management
Options Table under the Soil Health Management Planning page on the Cornell
soils webpage.)
Rick Haney and the folks at
Agricultural Research Service in Temple, Texas, have also developed an enhanced
soil health test that focuses on total nitrogen available—capturing both
chemical and biological data. The goal
is to help producers optimize fertilizer application based on actual growing
conditions. For more information, see a
description of this tool at http://www.farmfoundation.org/news/articlefiles/1880-Soil%20Health%20Tool%20Explanation%20ver%204.3.pdf.
The challenge is to capture the
components of soil health in a test that’s inexpensive and easy for farmers to
use and produces consistent results. Testing
is the first step. Then we must identify
cost-effective ways to build soil health, establishing optimal inputs to
receive a return on our investment.
Improving the soil is the next
step in producing significantly higher yields, whether you farm conventionally
or organically. Farmers who want to have
a hand in feeding the world while boosting their bottom line will do well to
investigate new developments in measuring and building up soil health that may
pay off for them. As we work together in this soil health movement—a
renaissance, if you will—we can make a difference in improving the most vital
resource necessary to sustain a growing population on this planet.
About the
author: Bruce I. Knight, Principal, Strategic Conservation Solutions, was the
Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) from 2006 to 2009. From 2002 to 2006, Knight served as Chief
of Natural Resources Conservation Service. The South Dakota native worked on
Capitol Hill for Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Rep. Fred Grandy, Iowa, and
Sen. James Abdnor, South Dakota. In addition, Knight served as vice president
for public policy for the National Corn Growers Association and also worked for
the National Association of Wheat Growers. A third-generation rancher and
farmer and lifelong conservationist, Knight operates a diversified grain and
cattle operation using no-till and rest rotation grazing systems
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