It’s time to make soil great again

It’s time to make soil great again

Continuing to lose topsoil will make it harder to feed a growing population

David R. Montgomery is a professor of earth and space sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is author of the award-winning non-fiction book, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, and his latest book, Growing A Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life was to be released in May. This article was originally published


Disc tillage not the only answer to corn residue

Disc tillage not the only answer to corn residue

Recent research on the effect of corn on subsequent soybean crops suggests there may be other alternatives

Producers may want to look beyond disc tillage to deal with corn residue, according to research co-funded by the Manitoba Corn Growers Association. In a two-year comparison of four residue treatments and their effect on soybeans, Patrick Walther and Yvonne Lawley of the University of Manitoba found that low-tillage treatments yielded the same soybean crop

Dearth of moisture in Manitoba earth

Dearth of moisture in Manitoba earth

Our History: May 1993

This photo from our May 6, 1993 issue showed (l-r) Peter Entz of Manitoba Agriculture, Bill Poole of Ducks Unlimited, Bob McNabb of Minnedosa, Wayne Lewis of Rapid City, Garth Butcher of Birtle and Bob Bradley of PFRA checking soil moisture for the first year of the Manitoba Zero Tillage Research Association’s 640-acre research farm

A simple pair of cotton underwear can tell you a surprising amount about your soil health.

Planning for a bumper crop of underwear

The Soil Conservation Council of Canada is hoping underwear will be neither tight nor white 
after two months in the ground

Cotton underwear should be the latest tool producers use to measure soil health. Soil Your Undies, a campaign pushed by the Soil Conservation Council of Canada as part of its 30th annual awareness week April 16-22, encourages Canadians to bury a pair of cotton underwear for two months. If soil is healthy, with a healthy


Getting an early start is every farmer’s goal, but sometimes too early can be a problem.

You may be ready for seeding, but is your land?

That early start to seeding is desirable, but not without some risks to manage

There’s little doubt that in recent years Manitoba farmers have been getting the crop in earlier and earlier. More tracked tractors, different seeder designs, management changes such as getting more work done in the fall and the ability to place more fertilizer at seeding time, has all added up, says Rejean Picard, a farm production

Manitoba Agriculture’s John Heard says many farmers are being forced to 
adjust their fertility strategy after a tough fall.


Farmers adjust fertility plans after tough fall

There’s still plenty of opportunity to get nitrogen on if you missed the fall application window

While spring banding of fertilizer has become more popular recently, there’s still plenty of growers putting it down in the fall. That is, unless they run into a season like last year. Many farmers throughout Manitoba struggled to just get the crop off, never mind getting their fall work done. Now they’re left with the

Researchers found that grazing crop residue could actually improve certain soil properties and that compaction concerns were overblown.

Grazing no compaction disaster

Nebraska researchers say grazing even at excess rates isn't a major contributor to soil compaction

It makes sense that a 1,200-pound cow would place quite a lot of pressure on the ground on which it walks. But a new study shows that even these heavy animals can’t do much to compact common soils — if they’re grazed responsibly. Those are the results of a 16-year-long study, established in 1997 by


David Lobb, of the University of Manitoba, says flood solutions will include keeping more water on farms, but not necessarily on fields.

On-farm water collection key to drainage management

Other farming practices such as enhancing soil health and better design 
and maintenance of surface drains can also help

Reducing run-off and improving soil health are the best path to address flooding and excess nutrients, according to a University of Manitoba expert on watershed management. These strategies include more collection of surface water before it leaves the farm and adoption of soil management practices that build soil structure and help water infiltrate, says David

Intercropping wheat and soys makes for tighter rotation

Intercropping wheat and soys makes for tighter rotation

The Kutz family has had to improvise but their ideas are working

At Kutz Farms LLC in Wisconsin, the Kutz family decided that planting corn on corn repeatedly may be good short-term economics, but it was bad long term for their soil’s health. As a result, John Kutz, his father and father-in-law created a new system that gives them three crops in two years, but doesn’t include