Audio
Hear Nebraska Farmers Talk About Their Soil Health Successes
Hear Nebraska farmers talk about their Soil Health successes in the following episodes of Playa County Radio
Good Soil Health Practices Benefit Playas
Playa wetlands benefit from practices that result in good soil health. The Natural Resources Conservation Service says there are four principles to improving soil health:
- Keep soil covered as much as possible;
- Disturb the soil as little as possible;
- Keep plants growing throughout the year to feed the soil; and
- Diversify as much as possible using crop rotation and cover crops.
No-till and Cover Crops Help Rainwater Basins
South-central Nebraska producer John Kinley has a three-acre rainwater basin in a crop field. He talks about progressive practices such as no-till production and cover cropping. Even though he farms through his wetland, no-till leaves the playa with cover year-round, and it now attracts ducks and geese as they migrate.
Nebraska Farmer Learns New Tricks With Cover Cropping
Nebraska farmer Bill Volkmer describes himself as an “old farmer.” But this old farmer is willing to learn some new tricks. He started planting cover crops in 2011. Cover-cropping — the practice of keeping fields covered between cash-crops — leads to a healthier, more bio-diverse soil and better crop productivity, which directly helps the bottom line. By selecting specific plants, from amongst the broadleafs, the grasses and the legumes, producers can improve their soils. By keeping soil covered, there’s less evaporation, and when it’s windy, there’s less loss of topsoil.
Improving Water Filtration through No-till and Cover Crops
Scott Gonnerman started no-till practices in 2005 and began cover-cropping his east Nebraska fields in 2009. He says he used to think of the soil simply as dirt. But he’s seen with his own eyes how infiltration has improved in step with a healthier ecosystem immediately below the soil surface.