Harvested wheat fields offer the perfect opportunity to focus on improving soil health. Planting cover crops and/or applying manure or other organic amendments provides soil microbes with the carbon compounds that help create a more porous soil structure which improves water, air and nutrient cycling. Here are a few common questions that come up every […]
Yield and quality of an oat cover crop was evaluated with and without an application of digestate. The study was conducted in two years on two separate fields. The oats were hand harvested and 3 samples were collected for each of the triplicated treatments. The results were evaluated based on harvested crop value (yield and […]
We live in interesting times when it comes to understanding soils. Our concept of what soil organic matter actually is, how it is formed, and how long it sticks around is evolving. The basic principle that has guided management of soil organic matter (SOM) for many years has been that the level of soil carbon […]
Co-written by Dr. Laura Van Eerd, Associate Professor, Nitrogen Fertility and Cover Crops, University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus Soil organic matter (OM) is the single most important soil health property that you have influence over through your management. Soil OM is all living, dead or long dead (and decomposed) material. Higher soil organic matter translates […]
A livestock farmer appreciates the value that manure has to their cropping system. In the past, cash crop producers, who did not have access to such a beneficial organic soil amendment were envious. Now there are options to source and apply various different organic amendments, but with many non-agricultural sourced materials on the market, it […]
There is lots of talk about crop residue removal for bio-energy purposes. We have gone through the first wave of trying to make it very clear to those less familiar with agriculture that this crop residue has real value. Crop Residue Value Components Crop residue value hinges on a few components: Crop residues are critical […]