DIY Soil Health Tests You Can Do On The Farm
Slake, Infiltration and Bulk Density (BD) are 3 tests that are fairly easy to do on the farm with a few simple tools.
Looking Back to Move Forward
To find out which direction we should be headed in terms of soil health we should look back to how it was.
A recipe for an 80 bu canola crop
Wouldn't it be great if all the inputs, machinery and/or farming practices that promise to grow you an extra 2-5 bu were true and reliable? It would be easy to spend your way to a bumper crop. 2 bushels here, 3 bushels there... done deal! Unfortunately, it is not a compounding effect.... it's probably easier to spend your way broke than into prosperity.
Soil Carbon – What is it and how do we measure it?
Last week we looked at the important role of soil carbon in plant growth and soi [...]
Land Prices and Productivity
With new technological developments in measuring soil productivity, more emphasis will be put on stewardship and production potential when determining land values.
Soil Test P – Making a case for annual soil testing
Phosphate fertilizers are applied in the top 3-4” of a soil profile and don’t typically move much. One of the biggest challenges to getting accurate year to year results is a consistent sampling depth. It’s crucial to get an accurate 0-6” depth.
Keep your microbes happy!
The modern approach to agriculture is focused on the production of monoculture c [...]
Making a case for yearly soil testing…
Residual nutrient levels on a soil test can fluctuate year to year. Solid fertility plans should be based on yearly testing and long term averages.
Are you extracting the full value from your soil samples?
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a prospect about the benefits of annu [...]
Zone Soil Testing and Variable Rate
In a previous post we discussed how GPS technology has improved the accuracy and [...]
