Soil Health
As you begin to rein in production costs, big ticket items such as fertilizer naturally get a lot of scrutiny. Now’s the time to think through how you’ll best allocate available dollars for nutrients.
Soil Scientist Outlines New Soil Health Focus for Company
Justin Glisan, state climatologist of Iowa, shares five ways to reduce emissions and prepare for future weather patterns
Salford Group is introducing the AB640 90-foot air boom applicator - which holds the potential to cover 22% more ground than traditional 70-foot applicators.
Farmers are reclaiming much of the land that we nearly lost and we’re protecting it through innovation – making the land produce more but with the guarantee that the land continues to be productive for future generations.
“By evaluating the health of soil, we can get an idea of what’s good; what’s bad; learn where to start making improvements; and set benchmarks to measure progress,” explains Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie.
Ken Ferrie says fields with good soil health can have as much disease present as an unhealthy field, but healthy plants handle stress better than unhealthy ones.
Heavy rains and high winds are contributing to dangerous dust storms and other issues in farm country. Ken Ferrie offers his take on stewardship practices that can help growers prevent or minimize these problems.
RhizeBio cofounder Doug Tole joins host Paul Neiffer for Episode 143 of the Top Producer Podcast.
Marc and Meagan Kaiser are building their future — finding a way to be part of their families’ corn and soybean operation and soil testing lab while starting a precision ag business and being active in farm groups.
BASF’s new website, SCNFields.com, is dedicated to helping growers manage risk against Soybean Cyst Nematode.
There are a number of practices that can create passive income on your operation, but the level of effort and investment to implement them varies.
A Minnesota grower asks Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist, how to improve upon the soil fertility on 90 acres he is renting for the first time this year.
It’s been said high-yielding corn needs 25" of moisture per acre per year. In 2023, when Mother Nature didn’t cooperate, management strategies to retain moisture coupled with new traits made a difference at harvest.
Planter technology once focused on acres per day, but plant spacing and uniformity have moved to the forefront and there’s been an explosion of technology to help manage the furrow. Smart investments will maximize corn yield on every soil type.
Farm Journal Test Plot research proves practices that reduce soil disturbance and sequester carbon perform best in a vertical farming system, as opposed to horizontal tillage, which creates yield-limiting soil layers.
Biome Makers said it pairs artificial intelligence with its soil database to decode soil biology and provide growers with more actionable information.
The practices used during the 2024 growing season will have a direct impact on the ability to take advantage of these incentives. Mitchell Hora of Continuum Ag shares what you need to know.
“Our mission is to improve and expand our program to create additional opportunities for even more American farmers,” said Leonardo Bastos, Senior Vice President of Ecosystem Services at Bayer Crop Science.
Here are the FAQs for farmers who are exploring carbon’s next chapter on the farm.
Working and training with her mother, in 2019 Hallie Shoffner took the lead as CEO and continues to focus on growing the business, searching for opportunities in specialty crops and value-added production.
A sudden change in soil density that occurs from the freezing-thawing process can cause problems with corn root growth this spring and impede water movement in the soil during the growing season.
You’ve removed dense and compacted soil layers, balanced fertility and pH through the profile and set up your soil for vertical farming. Here are the final boxes to check to move away from horizontal farming.
Layering federal and private conservation programs has potential to add extra cash to your bottom line.
Could new incentives be the tipping point to adoption?
The survey uses records from ag retailers to measure the use of cover crops, nutrient management and conservation tillage and no-till by Iowa growers.
Shop around if you’re interested in participating in a carbon program. Just make sure you have a learning mindset and a healthy level of skepticism in order to find the right one.
Once you balance fertility and pH in the soil profile, and adjust to making small, more frequent lime applications, you probably won’t need to mix fertilizer into the soil, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist.
A chocolate layer cake is good. Layers of dense or compacted soil aren’t so good. Once you’ve probed or dug and found the layers put in place by horizontal farming tools, it’s time to remove them. Here’s how.
Vertical tillage is not a single tool or a single pass — it’s a comprehensive system, says Ken Ferrie. Here’s what you need to understand about a vertical tillage system and the first step of removing horizontal layers.