Wind erosion, salinity and compaction were among the issues agronomists saw across the region. Now, they’re encouraging growers to learn from those field conditions and use them to guide management decisions before next spring.
What This Spring Revealed
For Mike VanEps, a crop consultant at Centrol Ag Consulting and Certified Crop Advisor (CCA), one of the clearest problems this spring was wind sweeping soil away.
“The most common soil health issue we have faced this year in the Red River Valley was blowing soils,” he told us.
Fall tillage is still common across the region, and some crops, including sugar beets, leave relatively little residue behind. Pair that with a winter with limited snow cover, and fields can be left exposed when spring winds arrive.
According to Brady Goettl, CCA and Assistant Professor of Extension Soil Science at North Dakota State University, erosion should be one of the first soil management issues growers address.
“If you are not minimizing soil loss, other soil health practices are of minimal importance,” Goettl said.
Salinity is another issue showing up in parts of the RRV. VanEps said salinity levels are trending higher, although the impact can vary depending on the water table and field conditions. In some less productive areas, growers are planting salt-tolerant grasses or forages instead of continuing to put the same level of inputs into acres that consistently struggle.
“Salt-tolerant grasses and forages can help reclaim unproductive acres and reduce wasted inputs,” VanEps said.
In some cases, that means changing how an underperforming area is managed rather than continuing to treat it like the rest of the field.
Match the Practice to the Problem
Agronomists are encouraging growers to look at the specific issues they are facing on their individual operations and applying soil health practices accordingly, rather than the other way around. For example, VanEps has seen rye ahead of sugar beets help address spring wind erosion.
“Rye emerges before sugar beets, giving young plants a longer window of protection from wind,” VanEps said.
But adding rye can also affect fertilizer timing, fall fieldwork and spring seedbed preparation. VanEps said growers need to think through how the practice fits the rest of the production system.
For erosion more broadly, Goettl points to several ways growers can reduce soil loss without completely overhauling their system.
“Even for folks who are in tillage-based systems, there are some low-cost, and also money-saving, practices which can be implemented to reduce soil loss including moving from fall to spring tillage, leaving standing residue, and strip cropping.” he explained.
Compaction also comes back to management and timing. Avoiding fieldwork when soils are wet can help, although both VanEps and Goettl acknowledged that weather and harvest timing do not always give growers ideal conditions.
Which approach makes sense depends on the problem a grower is trying to solve and how the practice fits the rest of the operation. That is especially true with cover crops.
“The first step for cover cropping should be deciding what you want to attain from the cover crop,” Goettl explained. “If the main goal is erosion prevention versus N-fixation, the species, timing, and rates will all vary.”
Plan Now, Not Next Spring
The Red River Valley has a short window for fieldwork, which makes fall and winter planning especially important.
“Without a plan in place in the fall, you will struggle the following year,” VanEps said. “Every practice we do in the fall will influence how our spring planting will go. Time is our most valuable commodity.”
For growers considering cover crops in 2027, VanEps recommends getting the practical pieces lined up early.
“Don’t wait until the last minute to get ready for ’27 cover crops,” he said. “Line up the seed from your retailer, get the equipment ready to go and have a step-by-step game plan ready now so when the time comes you are not scrambling.”
Residue management, tillage, soil testing, fertilizer timing and cover crop planning can all affect what growers are dealing with once spring arrives.
The goal is not to lock in every decision months ahead of time. It is to identify likely problem areas, understand the options and have a plan before winter weather starts narrowing the window.
Start With What You’re Seeing
There is no single management system that fits every RRV farm. Crop rotation, equipment, soils, weather, economics and risk tolerance all shape what makes sense.
But the issues already visible in the field can help point growers toward what deserves a closer look.
The Soil Health Self-Check is designed for Red River Valley growers to identify common signs of erosion, compaction, salinity and other soil health challenges, then connect those symptoms with practical next steps and local resources.
