Thoughts on Soil Health

The soil under your feet isn’t just worms and germs, it is billions of living organisms that help plants grow and flourish. We want to make sure we are doing our part to ensure we have healthy soils. One way to identify what is beneath the surface of the soil is to do a soil test. There are different ways and times of year to take a soil test, but they are a good asset to our toolchest as farmers because they give us a snapshot of what the soil needs and doesn’t need to grow a healthy crop. Organic matter is one of the variables measured in the soil test, and it allows the farmer to have a beginning value of overall soil health.  Organic matter is defined by material that is made up of decomposing plants, animals, and microorganisms that are in different stages of decomposition. That matter is a source of nutrients. It helps the structure of the soil, and betters water retention and carbon storage. Soil organic matter varies from region to region. For example central and northern Iowa’s soil is a black color instead of the brown we typically see around here. They have massive amounts of organic matter due to prairie grasses from thousands of years ago. Organic matter can also vary across the different soil types. Specifically clay and silt soils because they can hold onto all that matter in the soil. So, when comparing organic matter, we have to compare them by region and soil type to really understand soil health. Overall this number and its change over time, gives you a good place to start! The other variables measured in a soil test will help you identify what other macro and micronutrients the soil needs throughout the year. These amendments to the soil and management practices will in turn change your organic matter and increase soil health!

Root Nodules on the Peas

One way our farm is trying to increase our soil health and add more feed sources for our cattle is by planting cover crops. We are trying to plant a diverse plant species in our cover crop mixes so that they will do multiple things at a time. We want to have a volume of plants and a diverse set of root structures so that we don’t have to add as many synthetic products that our soil  tests would suggest we need.  The cover crops also increase the soil structure so that oxygen and water can move through the soil more freely. Remember the other week when we posted about nitrogen fixing root nodules? In our spring cover crop mix we have harry vetch, clover, and peas that will create those nodules. Those nodules are important because they take atmospheric nitrogen (which plants can’t utilize) and turn it into a usable ammonia that the crops can utilize.  Since the plants themselves are creating enough, we haven’t had to add any synthetic nitrogen to help them grow this year! We are extremely grateful for this because of the high prices of fertilizer this year. The cover crop diversity and cattle grazing will all hopefully allow us to  increase our organic matter over time. 

Another big thing that helps improve the organic matter is manure, which we apply yearly in the form of cattle and turkey manure. That manure is a solid food source for the organisms. The benefits of manure to our farm are seemingly endless when you apply it in the right amount and timeframe. We are still currently working on using our soil tests to better identify which of our fields could utilize it the best. For example, we have started alternating which fields we apply turkey manure on based on our soil test data. We have also seen more earth worms in fields that we apply our bed pack manure on!

At the end of the day there are so many ways to better your soil’s health, but we don’t have time to cover them all. We want to ensure that our ground is still able to be farmed for generations down the road. That all starts with how we are treating our soil today. One small change could impact the future in so many ways! Bettering our soil has become one of the funnest challenges on our farm!

Love,

Olivia, Tabby, Gina, & Kendra