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Expert says more needs to be done to keep soil in place
A soil specialist says many areas in the Midwest are losing soil at a faster rate than it’s being replaced.
“We’re seeing increasingly intense and more frequent elevated rainfall events—that drives up soil erosion losses.”
Director of the Iowa Water Center Rick Cruse tells Brownfield in Ohio, for example, an average of two-and-a-half tons of soil per acre is lost each year, while only a half a ton of soil develops per acre.
Cruse says it can be easier for farmers to implement conservation practices on land they own versus rent. “If I’m renting land, in some situations, the incentive to use a conservation practice does not result in a benefit to me if someone else farms that land five years from now.”
He says no-till, cover crops and grassed waterways can have a positive impact to keep soil in place and over time improve a farmer’s production.
AUDIO: Brownfield interview with Rick Cruse during the Ohio Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference
Of course we are loosing more soil than we are making. Why should it change? We have been doing almost the same practices for decades. What else can we expect but to continue losing our soil until farmers are educated in practices that will build soil. Until our educators push away from there office desk and start showing farmers what tillage does to the soil and help farmers understand building ORGANIC MATTER is the key. I find it a little bit funny that so many educators concentrate on the after affect of rain by putting in water ways and filter strips etc. I’m not saying that waterway are bad, we need them. We need to concentrate on every raindrop and where it falls, so it stays there. A healthy soil will take in 6″ in an hour. Most tilled fields can only take in .4″ of rain per hour. Yes, if the soil is full, it cannot hold the water.
Well, let’s add an extra half hour to our once a year 2 hour private pesticide training, and help farmer understand the basics of what it takes to reduce erosion and the importance of building Organic Matter. Farmers will change if they see the benefits and how to achieve the practices.
Oh, well!