Latest News From Soil Health

Marc and Meagan Kaiser are building their future — finding a way to be part of their families' corn and soybean operation and soil testing lab while starting a precision ag business and being active in farm groups.

BASF's new website, SCNFields.com, is dedicated to helping growers manage risk against Soybean Cyst Nematode.

There are a number of practices that can create passive income on your operation, but the level of effort and investment to implement them varies.

A Minnesota grower asks Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist, how to improve upon the soil fertility on 90 acres he is renting for the first time this year.

It’s been said high-yielding corn needs 25" of moisture per acre per year. In 2023, when Mother Nature didn't cooperate, management strategies to retain moisture coupled with new traits made a difference at harvest.

Data — a word that packs a punch but can be hard to define. From planting to irrigation, it's necessary to have a digital record of these field activities to participate in sustainability and crop traceability programs.

Your technology investment will maximize corn yield on every soil type.

Biome Makers said it pairs artificial intelligence with its soil database to decode soil biology and provide growers with more actionable information.

Farm Journal Test Plot research proves practices that reduce soil disturbance and sequester carbon perform best in a vertical farming system, as opposed to horizontal tillage, which creates yield-limiting soil layers.

“Our mission is to improve and expand our program to create additional opportunities for even more American farmers,” said Leonardo Bastos, Senior Vice President of Ecosystem Services at Bayer Crop Science.

A sudden change in soil density that occurs from the freezing-thawing process can cause problems with corn root growth this spring and impede water movement in the soil during the growing season.

The practices used during the 2024 growing season will have a direct impact on the ability to take advantage of these incentives. Mitchell Hora of Continuum Ag shares what you need to know.

You’ve removed dense and compacted soil layers, balanced fertility and pH through the profile and set up your soil for vertical farming. Here are the final boxes to check to move away from horizontal farming.

Working and training with her mother, in 2019 Hallie Shoffner took the lead as CEO and continues to focus on growing the business, searching for opportunities in specialty crops and value-added production.

“We can move so much faster. By our estimates, less than 2% of farmers are participating in these programs industry wide,” Truterra president Jamie Leifker says.

The survey uses records from ag retailers to measure the use of cover crops, nutrient management and conservation tillage and no-till by Iowa growers.

Shop around if you’re interested in participating in a carbon program. Just make sure you have a learning mindset and a healthy level of skepticism in order to find the right one.

Once you balance fertility and pH in the soil profile, and adjust to making small, more frequent lime applications, you probably won’t need to mix fertilizer into the soil, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist.

Vertical tillage is not a single tool or a single pass — it's a comprehensive system, says Ken Ferrie. Here’s what you need to understand about a vertical tillage system and the first step of removing horizontal layers.

Through his work, Russell Taylor has focused on being an advocate for conservation practices in agriculture – partnering with several different organizations to change laws and draft language for the farm bill. 

Virginia farmer David Hula is known for growing big yields and he's doing so once again. He won the 2023 NCA National Corn Yield Contest with a new record yield, beating his previous world record set in 2019. 

To help growers create an effective management plan for controlling soybean cyst nematode (SCN), the SCN Coalition shares five key steps to take.

The absence of glyphosate would have made a bad year even worse. We would have grown fewer crops, spent more time and money on controlling weeds, and harmed our soil with plowing.

A chocolate layer cake is good. Layers of dense or compacted soil aren't so good. Once you've probed or dug and found the layers put in place by horizontal farming tools, it's time to remove them. Here's how.

Removing compaction and density layers before transitioning to a vertical system can add 15 bu. to 20 bu. per acre and might lower cost of production, according to Farm Journal Test Plot research.

Layering federal and private conservation programs has potential to add extra cash to your bottom line.

Could new incentives be the tipping point to adoption?

What is vertical farming and how can it set you up for future government incentives? Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist, explains it often requires mixing and matching tools for primary and secondary tillage.

Corn harvest in Missouri is at 28% complete, with soybean harvest at only 4%. While Missouri was hit by drought this year which will cut yield average, some areas are bucking that trend.

With crops slowly coming in off the fields, now is a good time to start thinking about soil testing. Here are five reasons why fall testing may be more ideal than spring.

Here are examples of how Star of The West has built connections and expanded opportunities for farmers. 

Two new metering systems from Montag are engineered for accuracy in conservation practices.

“No other company can offer such integrated testing to predict what risks farmers face in the coming growing season,” Danielle Watts, vice president of data, said.

By layering disciplines in agronomy, environmental sciences and data analysis, ag retailers are unlocking new opportunities to work with farmers.

Missouri soils unlocked a ‘golden’ antibiotic 75 years ago that’s still used in livestock today.

To better understand the word choices preferred by farmers and ag retailers/crop advisers, Farm Journal conducted online surveys this fall asking both groups.

In 2000, the highest auction price paid for any tillage tool that year was $28,500. Today, that number tops $140,000 and easily ranges from $80,000 to $120,000.

Take our three-question survey to help understand farmer preferences about word choice around conservation practices

Via the partnership, farmers who participate in RegenConnect can easily synchronize their in-field practices and data record keeping via John Deere’s Operations Center.

Here are the FAQs for farmers who are exploring carbon’s next chapter on the farm.

Products from John Deere, Soiltech and EarthOptics can help growers learn more about their fields while reducing input and operating costs.

Eighty percent of U.S. growers participating in the 2022-23 National Cover Crop Survey report trying cover crops. Two Indiana farmers share what they've learned along the way and some recommendations.

Here are further details about each program, enrollment requirements, and geographic specifics.

“When you look at the big picture, ultimately regenerative agriculture practices will increase the value of your land over time,” says Jerry Hatfield.

While most Midwest farmers utilize a corn-soybean crop rotation, it would help them from an agronomic and economic viewpoint to consider adding a small grain as a third crop in their rotations.

Cover crops, reduced tillage and a simple water infiltration test help Adam Chappell capture and hold water and nutrients.

Last year the company said its payments totaled $9 million so far. 

“We’re merging our family of brands to streamline our offerings, and ultimately, demonstrate a consistent company fabric across all the industries we touch,” said Huma CEO Lyndon Smith in the company’s announcement.

The recent soil dust cloud catastrophe in central Illinois is a wake-up call from Mother Nature suggesting all of agriculture needs to implement more sustainable production practices. We owe it to future generations.

Nestled in an old barn sat 8,000 mason jars filled with soil dating back to 1862. Now the plan is to revisit the 450 sampling locations spanning 21 million crop acres for insights into soil fertility and conservation.