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Tag Archives soil science

Farmers take a look at smaller-scale plots on a tour of the research farm at Carman, Man., in the summer of 2019.
Crops

Testing the cover crop hypothesis

Agronomy researchers are catching up with what farmers are doing in their fields

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It’s an exciting time for cover crop research. Last summer, many large-scale cover crop trials were underway across the Prairies looking at everything from cover crop combinations, rotations and planting methods to pollinator strips. One of the biggest ongoing projects, funded by Western Grains Research Foundation, Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers and Manitoba Pulse and […] Read more
This graphic shows salty patches on my Blackstrap farm. The main actor is the aquifer underneath the water runways. 
A neighbour’s flowing well in a runway about a mile away is the evidence for the artesian condition.
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: How does ground get salty?

What causes salty ground, and a two-step process to fix the problem in your fields

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After scribbling for this many years, it is no surprise that I’ll repeat the same song several times. Perhaps if I sing the song in a different tune it will resonate with more people. Salty ground is one such topic and this time I’ll try a new approach. A few years back this column predicted […] Read more
Some modern agricultural practices are reducing stable organic matter and driving many soils to be bacterially dominated.
Crops, Features

Bacterial-based soils: addicted to crop inputs

Adding high-quality carbon to our soils can make farming more fun and profitable


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Soils everywhere in the world consist of air, minerals, water and organic matter. Where the difference occurs is in the composition of soil in different places. As agricultural producers, we can only really manage the organic matter. In a conference this winter, Jay Fuhrer, a conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Bismarck, North […] Read more
Handful of arable soil in hands of responsible farmer, close up, selective focus
Columns, Hart Attacks

Scientists say it’s all about the soil

Farmers and ranchers need to keep society connected to the land

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So a soil scientist steps up to a conference microphone about to deliver a one-hour talk and my first thought — “is 8:30 in the morning too early for a nap?” But not so. What a great talk given by Henry Janzen, a long-time researcher at the Agriculture Canada Lethbridge Research Centre to open the annual […] Read more
Warren Eilers, in a slough bottom with an EM38. This spot is flushed of almost all salts.
Columns, Crops

Horse pasture soil salinity: beware of new ground

Land has been left in grass for a reason. And sometimes this reason is salinity

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In the mid to late 1970s soil salinity was the biggest issue on many Prairie farms. The hue and cry was that we would soon have little land left to farm. Some said salinity was increasing by 10 per cent per year but I never bought into that number. From 1975 to 1980 we held […] Read more
Cover crops provide residue on the surface over the winter, catching snow. In the spring, when that snow melts, salts are flushed down.
Crops, Features

Managing soil salinity through cover crops

For the growing problem of dry land salinity, try planting a cover crop

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Dry land salinity is a major problem on the Prairies. In Alberta, about 1.6 million acres of dry land are impacted by secondary salinity. On average, Alberta crop yields are reduced by 25 per cent annually because of the problem. Salinity also impacts 3.3 million acres in Saskatchewan and 0.6 million acres in Manitoba as […] Read more
The photo shows this old scribe in his young kid days giving advice to a farmer by phone — a very efficient way to do business back in the day when phones were answered. But, I was only able to help because the #12 Soils Map was right beside my phone. My first question was always, “Where are you from?” Then I could take a quick peek at the map and give a much better answer. Many thought I had the soils map in my head — 
but now the truth comes out.
Columns, Crops

Precision ag Step 1: soil maps

The most important part of precision agriculture is the soil maps of your fields


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My first work on precision agriculture was actually in the 1960s and colleagues had been doing work on the idea before that. Back then it was all about identifying specific soil profile types in a field and trying to determine if their variable properties could be managed differently. Some things were clear: 1. Leached (white […] Read more
This soil is repairing and building, and looks like cottage cheese.
Crops, Features

Balancing the soil biology

Helping Mother Nature with the fungi:bacteria ratio can keep our soils more productive

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Soil health. Sounds like a good target we should be aiming at. Where do we start? What do we measure? How do we know when we get there? The first thing we need to find out is where are we? Nicole Masers is an agro-ecologist with Integrity Soils. For her three-day course in regenerative soil […] Read more
Stubble soil moisture map, November 1, 2017
Columns, Crops

Stubble soil moisture map, November 1, 2017

Les Henry’s annual map of fall soil moisture going into the winter months

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The November 1, 2016, fall soil moisture map was, in a word, wet. In Manitoba and much of Saskatchewan all soils were at field capacity (holding maximum available water) and many areas were so wet that water tables were near enough to surface to be a factor. When the water table is within about five […] Read more
This slide cabinet holds 5,000 slides and allows me to view 120 at a time. Any slide can be located in a flash if a good filing system is in place.
Columns, Crops

Exhibit 1: Weather cycles — Willowbunch Lake

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Over the course of 30+ years at the University of Saskatchewan I collected about 5,000 35 mm colour slides. Many were taken by me while pounding pavement but I also “inherited” slides from folks who retired or moved. I also have a slide cabinet at home with hundreds of slides from junkets to Tanzania, Swaziland […] Read more

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