The headline in The Washington Post article, published August 25, 2024, proclaimed “Scientists may have found a radical solution for making your hamburger less bad for the planet.” The article, written by Shannon Osaka and Emily Wright, examined research currently being conducted at the University of California-Davis using gene editing techniques on rumen microbes to […]
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In part one, I outlined some of the societal challenges linked to soil erosion and poor soil function. Now let’s take a look at some of the economic costs and benefits of addressing erosion on farms and ranches. To determine the cost of erosion, first we must assign a value to soil. In truth, topsoil […]
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Soil erosion has been one of the most persistent challenges humanity has faced since the advent of agriculture over 10,000 years ago. Loss of productive capacity of the supporting land base contributed to the collapse of numerous civilizations during that time. Poor grazing practices and tillage were the main causes of land degradation historically and […]
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Life is short so embrace change.” That’s the “distilled” philosophy Rodrigo Mestas brings to his tequila business, his regenerative agriculture management style and his outlook on life. In the acres he’s transitioned to regenerative agriculture, Mestas allows naturally occurring cover crops to emerge between the rows of the agave, and then grazes livestock- including […]
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I pulled this image up on GoogleEarth yesterday. The photo below shows an area 12.5 miles wide, by 6.5 miles vertically, much of it in Rock Dell Township, Minnesota where our farm is. Hayfield is in the upper left-hand corner. The green area in the middle is along Hwy 30, and at the top is […]
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In Part Four, I discussed the importance of keeping living roots in the soil and avoiding overapplication of nutrients at the wrong time. In this final post I will examine nitrogen sourcing options and how plants acquire nutrients in a healthy soil. To understand what the ‘right source’ of nitrogen is, we first need to […]
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God designed the world to function as a perpetual motion machine. If done right, it should always be building fertility, not extracting it. But you have to understand the principles of soil health, and the four ecosystem processes, in order to achieve that outcome. While many individuals are content with simply “growing a cover crop” […]
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In Part Three, I reviewed the concept of using marginal nitrogen use efficiency and zero N check strips as tools to evaluate application rates. Now I will shift the focus to problems with overapplication, how to determine the right timing for application, and the consequences of not doing so. The fastest way to diminish the […]
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In business, it all comes down to profit. In farming, profit comes down to things we can’t control like the weather and the markets, and the things we can control like our management decisions. One of those key management decisions is determining how much nitrogen to apply to our crops. In part two of this […]
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In part one of this series, I briefly discussed the importance of education for understanding how soil function and ecosystem processes play a critical role for water quality. Now let’s turn our attention to determining the “right rate” for nitrogen. Nutrient management plans focus heavily on nitrogen because it is critical for plant growth and […]
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Poor water quality has been a persistent challenge in agriculture, particularly due to sediment and nutrient loss from farmland. It is considered a “wicked problem” with conflicting social, political, economic, and environmental aspects that prevent solutions. In this blog series I will challenge the notion that degraded water is something we all have to live […]
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Most of us have heard the old sayings regarding weather and farming including, “Don’t plant until the barn swallows return,” and “Wait until the oak leaves are as big as a squirrel’s ear.” These, and many other sayings, were tied to observations and farming in sync with what Mother Nature was telling us in terms […]
Read MoreBy Allen R Williams, Ph.D. To most people genetic selection can be a complicated task. There is so much data out there that many folks get lost in the translation. What to use and how much emphasis to put on each trait becomes an overwhelming issue. EPD’s, actual trait measurements, phenotype, pedigrees, ultrasound data, linear […]
Read MoreBy Allen R. Williams Ph.D. The final principle in our series is the Principle of Disruption. We may have a negative connotation of the word “disruptive” because we have heard that “nobody wants a disruptive kid” or we “have to be nice and not disrupt the meeting”. However, sometimes it pays to be disruptive, to […]
Read MoreBy Allen R Williams, Ph.D What is the Principle of Diversity? It is quite simple. In my experience in working with several thousand farmers and ranchers across a wide variety of environments and landscapes, I have found that plant species complexity and diversity are critical to building positive compounding and cascading benefits. In that regard, […]
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By Allen Williams & Russ Conser Last month we talked about your role in managing grazing to keep the carbon-centric circle of life cycling. This month, we’ll dig deeper into how the cycling of carbon in this circle leads the cycling of water. The fact that water is really important for growing plants is not […]
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