Summary: Knowing whether carbon farming works is different than measuring conventional farming. Learn some tips and tricks to measure the success of the transition on your farm.
Agronomic challenges that plague your fields can be time-consuming, frustrating, and costly. It’s estimated that some problems, like compaction, can cost you up to 60% of your yield. The frustration compounds when it’s difficult to tell whether your solutions are actually working. We know that with the right approach, you can begin to heal the individual problems you’re having in your fields and begin to holistically improve your soil health. Here are three common agronomic problems we see growers deal with across regions and soil types, and the solutions to fix them. But most importantly, we’ll tell you how you can determine whether you’re seeing early signs of success from instituting your changes.
The University of Minnesota says moderate compaction typically leads to a 10-20% yield loss, and that those losses could jump to 60% or more-when there’s severe compaction. And the problem can be wide in scope, impacting up to 30% of farmland in North Dakota and Minnesota resulting in nearly $1.8b in costs. Contrary to the beliefs of many farmers, compaction doesn’t solve itself or eliminate damage through freeze-thaw cycles. That’s because the freeze-thaw action usually only affects the top 2-5 inches of soil, meaning any compaction below that is not addressed through these cycles. Reducing tillage and introducing cover crops will address compaction by making your soils more stable.
Need help deciding which cover crop is best for you?
If you’ve already incorporated covers and reduced tillage, and you want to see whether it’s working, there are some simple tests that will answer your question. Here is the step-by-step version of one popular test:
Infiltration is the Goldilocks of soil health. If moisture infiltrates your soil too deeply, you could be dealing with nutrient leaching out of the root zone. Too slow, and you’re looking at ponding, runoff, and erosion. By increasing your soil’s organic matter through cover crops and no-till practices, you can get closer to more ideal rates. Further, these practices will improve soil structure and macropores, vital to establishing healthy water storage and movement capacity. There are some simple tests to see if incorporating these practices is doing anything for your fields. But again, this will be tested over time, so the most important thing to do is get a good understanding of your baseline performance- how your field is performing today. The USDA has a simple way to measure your baseline, which can be repeated in the following years to measure your progress.
Here’s what you’ll need
Steps
Another simple test uses a number 10 coffee can. Cut out both ends and place it in the soil. Pour about two inches of water into the can and see how long it takes water to seep into the soil.
When you repeat these tests each year, you should notice better infiltration rates. Either tests are a good way to determine whether your cover crops, reduced tillage, or both are working to improve infiltration.
If you’re wondering just how damaging erosion can be to your profitability, consider what scientists found in the Piedmont region of the United States- a region of aggressive agriculture production and, as a result, one with very thin soil. Scientists ultimately found that growers lost 2.9 bushels of corn per acre per inch of lost topsoil, and .7 bushels of soybeans per acre per inch.
That particular region had a rough go- an estimated 7 inches of topsoil eroded. If you do the math, that means 20.3 bushels of corn and 4.9 bushels of soybeans per acre were lost just due to erosion. Let’s say corn was $5 per bushel and soybeans were $13 per bushel. That means a grower is losing $102 of corn per acre per year and $64 of soybeans per acre per year. To stop erosion, agronomists recommend utilizing cover crops and reducing tillage, both efforts to keep that topsoil from being disturbed.
An article from Agfuse has a simple way to measure whether your efforts at slowing or stopping erosion are working. Eyeballing it, actually, can work pretty well. But for a more in-depth test, place stakes with measurement marks at the edges of your field. Over time, check the measurements on the stakes to see if your soil levels are staying steady or going down. It’s especially helpful if you want to measure the difference between bare soils vs. soils with cover crops, so you can see a difference. However, because these stakes will be affected by frost, the RUSLE2 modeling program is a better option. RUSLE2 was developed by the NRCS. It is a computer model that predicts erosion using rainfall and runoff information. For more information on how to utilize RUSLE2, visit the Agriculture Research Service with the USDA.
Some of these tests may seem simple, and that’s the point. When growers make changes, they want milestones so they can measure their progress. Building soil health can be a generations-long endeavor, but knowing you’re on the right track now and having some quick wins can make all the difference between staying the course and seeing a positive outcome, or giving up before you realize the true potential of your soil.