ARCOLA, Ill. — There is life happening in healthy
“Fungal associations are the glue that holds soil particles
together,” said Jen Filipiak, natural resource conservationist for the American
Farmland Trust. “When it rains, good soil can hold itself together, but soil
that doesn’t have as many associations will fall apart.”
“There is so much going on below the surface that we can’t
see,” added Kathleen Holthaus with Ag Spectrum Co. and ProHarvest Seeds Inc.
“There is a whole ecosystem that provides nutrients for the plants.”
Filipiak conducted two tests to show the differences in
soils during a Women Caring for the Land Conservation Meeting, sponsored by
American Farmland Trust.
She used soil that came from pasture ground and compared it
to soil from a field that has been conventionally farmed. A slake test will
measure the disintegration of soil aggregates when exposed to water.
“Good soil texture is like chocolate cake — it crumbles,”
Filipiak explained. “Bad soil texture is like flour.”
The infiltration test demonstrates the speed at which water
enters the soil.
As Filipiak sprinkled water on the two different soil
samples, she said, “Conventionally tilled soil has less soil pores because it
has lost the glue holding it together.”
“When it rains hard, the water runs off the field or after
the rain there are ponds on the field,” she said.
However, in fields that feature good soil structure, the
water will go through the soil, but it doesn’t take the soil with it, Filipiak
“The water trickles through, and that’s infiltration, which
is what you want,” she said.
Improving soil structure will impact the resiliency of the
“Farmers that had been doing no-till and cover crops for a
while got 30 percent higher yields than their neighbors during the drought in
2012,” Filipiak reported. “Because when it rains, the soil holds onto the water
by filling the pore spaces.”
There are both benefits and extra management and risks
associated with cover crops, Holthaus noted.
Some of the challenges include the getting cover crops
planted in a timely manner to get enough growth in the fall to achieve the
benefits. Cover crops can be drilled, spread with a dry fertilizer application
or seeded with an airplane.
“We’ve had good and bad experiences with an airplane,”
Holthaus said. “Sometimes you don’t get the coverage you would with drilling.”
Termination of some cover crops in the spring can be
“Some of them like radishes and oats winterkill, so you
don’t have to worry about terminating them in the spring,” Holthaus said.
“However annual ryegrass and cereal ryegrass will overwinter and begin growing
in the spring, so it is important to kill them in a timely manner so they don’t
become a weed for our cash crop.”
However, she said, cover crops are versatile.
“You can make them work almost anywhere, and there are many
crops to choose from,” she explained.
Cover crops can retain and recycle nutrients.
“They have deep roots that grow down in the soil and
scavenge nutrients left behind by the previous crop,” Holthaus said. “The cover
crop will hold those nutrients, and when it dies and decomposes, those nutrients
are released back into the soil for your next cash crop to use.”
Since there will be something growing during the fall,
winter and spring, the root system helps to reduce the risk of erosion by water
“The strong deep rooting system of cover crops can break
through compacted soils,” Holthaus said. “They can also reduce weed pressure by
shading out weeds in the fall and weeds that pop up early in the spring, which
can reduce the need for herbicides.”
Building organic matter in the soil is another benefit of
“Organic matter is like gold — it’s what makes the soil that
dark color and helps to hold water,” Holthaus said. “There are so many benefits
from organic matter, and you build organic matter by leaving residues in the
Enhancing the soil environment for the microbes in the soil
produces several benefits.
“Microbes help to decompose plant material and release that
material as useable nutrients for the plants,” Holthaus explained. “If we can
enhance their environment and help them do a better job, we’re getting more
useable nutrients for our next crop for free.”
A radish tap root can go as deep as three feet or more, she
“It is pretty amazing, radishes really do a lot of good and
can help break up compaction when the tuber gets large,” she said. “And radishes
winterkill, so you won’t have anything to kill with an herbicide in the
The holes in the soil left by the radish give water and air
a place to go down into the soil.
“The next plant will use the channels those roots made in
the soil,” Holthaus noted.
“Oats and radishes are a popular mix because the oats also
winterkill,” she said. “In our ProHarvest plot, we got the biggest radishes when
they were growing with oats.”
Annual ryegrass will grow through the winter and will need
to be killed in the spring.
“You need to be timely about when you spray because annual
ryegrass will take off in the spring and grow pretty fast,” Holthaus stressed.
“Make sure this crop fits into your operation.”
Diana Ropp with BATES Commodities also presented information
about risk management.
“I encourage people to determine their breakeven and then
make strategies from there,” she said.
“We all need to protect our bottom line because farming is
big business,” Ropp stressed.
“There are a lot of costs we know like seed, fertilizer,
crop insurance, machinery, fuel, storage and drying,” she said. “Then you need
to manage the risk.”
Although the weather is beyond the control of farmers, Ropp
said, “You can manage what you sell your crop for, and there are multiple
In addition, she said, it is important to remember that
farmers now are involved in a world market.
“It’s not just what’s going on outside our back door,” she
For example, several years ago, when the earthquake hit
Japan and the tsunami followed, Ropp said, the U.S. grain markets were down the
limit three days in a row.
“Nobody knew that was going to happen,” she added.
“During the last several weeks, with the huge South American
soybean crop, many traders thought we’d see the soybean market take a tumble,”
“But, instead, the market has gone the other way because
with the politics in Ukraine and Russia, there is concern exports would be
disrupted, and the market doesn’t like uncertainty.”