Limiting erosion is the cornerstone of maintaining healthy, productive soil. But the understanding of soil health is broadening and growing, the North Dakota Natural Resources Conservation Service soil health specialist said.
"It's alive," Jay Fuhrer said. "We're getting a better understanding of that."
Fuhrer spoke at the third annual Grand Forks County (N.D.) Soil Health Workshop Feb. 26. The event, sponsored by local, county, state and federal organizations, drew upwards of 200 agriculturalists, most from northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. This year's attendance was nearly double that of a year ago.
"We're growing, and that's great to see," said Paul Bjorg, with the Grand Forks office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and one of the conference sponsors.
Many of this year's attendees were in their 20s and 30s, another encouraging sign, although farmers of all ages were represented.
ADVERTISEMENT
Soil health is drawing greater attention in Upper Midwest agriculture, with soil increasingly viewed as a living organism that can be helped or hurt by farming practices. Interest in soil health in northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota is heightened by growing problems with salinity and soil compaction.
Two farmers who attended the Grand Forks conference, Jerry Uglem of Northwood, N.D., and Ray Korynta of Ardoch, N.D., said soil salinity is a particular concern.
"It's getting worse," Uglem said.
Korynta grows barley, in part, because the crop tolerates salinity relatively well.
Fuhrer defined soil health as "the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital ecosystem that sustains plants, animals and animals."
He identified four basic principles of soil health:
• Keep the soil covered, or "soil armor."
• Minimize soil disturbance.
ADVERTISEMENT
• Maximize diversity of crops on a field, using four types of crops.
•Integrate livestock into the operation.
Once, many U.S. farmers practiced one or more of those principles, he said.
Over time, many producers narrowed their rotations and got out of livestock. More recently, however, farmers increasingly realize the need to refocus attention on soil health, Fuhrer said.
In recognition of that, North Dakota State University added five new soil health positions in 2012 and the NRCS added a new soil health position in 2014.
Crop prices have plunged in the past two years, causing some to wonder whether farmers -- struggling to stay in the black -- will focus less on soil health.
Fuhrer, asked about that, said farmers don't need to plunge headfirst into following sound soil health principles.
"Start out small," concentrating on individual fields and small acreages and expanding over time, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Farmers and others can use the NRCS web soil survey to explore soil and soil health.
It uses the most current data available and generates localized maps of soil interpretations and chemical/physical properties.
The survey is available at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov .
