When farmers work in harmony with Mother Nature to “Flip their Soil” they not only become more sustainable, but over time they can improve crop yields and profitability on their farm.
Mother Nature always wins, and farmer and agronomist Mitch Hora of Continuum Ag is helping other farmers find success by taking her cues when it comes to applying the principles of soil health on their land. “Just keep that in mind that we’re trying to get the outcome of healthier soil, more resilient soil and we’ve got to do that by minimizing disturbance, chemical, physical, keep armor on the soil, keep a living root as much as we can, get as much diversity into the system as possible, maybe integrate livestock back out on the land and most importantly do this is the context of your farm.”
To flip your farm’s soil Hora recommends approaching soil health offensively. “Cover crops and no-till have been branded wrong. They have been branded as defensive management tools, defense against erosion, defense against water quality problems, but really to actually make these systems work that cover crop is my offensive tool. It’s my nutrient stabilizer, it’s my herbicide program, it’s my moisture management program, it’s my soil building program, it’s my resiliency program. So many offensive things.”
Hora reminds farmers that healthy soils are alive and home to billions of microbes that are actually farming the crop and providing it vital nutrients needed for higher yields. “One teaspoon of this healthy soil more than 8 billion microbes and these got to eat. They eat carbon, simple sugars and that carbon, those simple sugars come from plant roots aggregates that are pumped into the ground via photosynthesis when there’s a living plant.” However, with the growing season spanning only a few months crops don’t grow long enough to build adequate levels of carbon in the soil. Hora says that’s where cover crops come in. “The key is you’ve got to feed the system. 6:36 and Mother Nature’s way of feeding the system is living roots. That’s why when there’s no living system, she puts weeds out here.”
Once those microbes are working Hora says they’ll provide a direct return on investment. Hora says, “I’m not going to have to spend money on herbicides, on fertilizer and everything else because it’s going to come naturally from my system. And that’s why on our farm we’ve been able to lower our inputs as much as we have and put those dollars right back to our bottom line. We’ve got to focus on profitability and also long-term resiliency here on the farm and these soil health systems are the way to do it.” And at the same time create a better impact on the environment.
