Packing in the nutrients

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
“The world population is projected to increase from 7 billion in 2013 to more than 9 billion in 2050. To sustain this level of growth, food production will need to rise by 70 percent,” according to information provided by the Weston County Natural Resource District. “Between 1982 and 2007, 14 billion acres of prime farmland in the U.S. were lost to development. Improving soil health is key to long-term, sustainable agriculture production.” 
In an effort to educate local producers on the importance of soil health and cover crops, the Weston County Natural Resource District will host a continuation of its original soil health education program earlier this year. The event on Oct. 1 will feature a field day and tour on land that benefited from their owners adopting the teachings of the original workshop. 
Attendees will tour three local ranches in northeast Wyoming who are working to improve soil health with the use of cover crops. The resource district will provide lunch after the tour, according to Paul Eitel, a conservationist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service District. 
“We have three producers in the northern part of the county where we are going to start the tour. They have planted cover crops this July after they were inspired by the first workshop,” Eitel said. “We will do our field tour, showing what grows here in the air for people who may want to do it next year.” 
Resource district manager Lacey Sloan said the purpose of the field days is to get landowners together to talk about what works for them and what doesn’t in a more casual setting. 
This soil health initiative, Eitel said, is one of the newer initiatives, promoting no till practices and soil health. Soil health is defined as the “continued capacity of a soil to function as a vital, living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals and humans,” the information states. “Only living things can have “health,” so viewing soil as a living, breathing ecosystem reflects a shift in the way we view and manage our nation’s soils.” 
The information says that soil isn’t an inert growing medium but is rather a home to billions of bacteria, fungi and other organisms that together create an intricate symbiotic ecosystem. 
“There are five principles: minimizing disturbance, maximizing cover, biodiversity, presence of living roots and livestock integration,” Eitel said. “Basically, there are living organisms in the soil that can help keep other things alive.”
Sloan said that adopting the principles helps productivity, increasing forage for livestock and the overall rangeland. 
“This practice is not letting the soil dry out, holding moisture, helping plants to come up quicker and bigger with a higher chance of surviving because of the additional moisture,” Eitel said. “Integrating these cover crops, whether it is turnips, radishes or peas, puts organic matter into the soil and while the cattle graze in the fall, they also put manure back into the crop system.” 
According to information provided by the district, organic matter holds 18 to 20 times its weight in water and recycles nutrients for plants to use. One percent of organic matter in the top 6 inches of soil would hold approximately 27,000 gallons of water per acre.
“Most farmers can increase their soil organic matter in three to 10 years if they are motivated about adopting conservation practices to achieve this goal,” the information says.