1. Restoring Depleted Soils:
Cover Crops and Soil Health
Newell Kitchen
USDA-ARS Cropping Systems and
Water Quality Research Unit
Columbia, MO
February 18, 2015
Cover Crops Iowa Conference, West Des Moines, IA
3. “…. did not so much
collapse as consume
itself.”
How do we get away
from treating soil as a
consumable?
4. Recent Times
U.S. Piedmont
used to be a major
agricultural region
Cultivation brought
immediate and
devastating soil
erosion
5. • In the U.S. Midwest, extensive
flat grasslands were plowed
and put into grain production
about 100 years ago.
• Multiple and damaging large
flood events caused severe
soil erosion and property
damage between 1926-1936.
Grain crop yields for many
fields actually declined when
compared to the previous
century (Bennett, 1939).
More Recently
6. • A 10-cm rainfall event created
gullies that followed the planter
rows (channeled by the planter
furrow)
• About 5-cm deep x 30-cm wide, of
a 76 cm-row spacing corn crop
• Erosion “consumed” 2 cm of topsoil
• Could be replaced by growing grass for 300-400 years
Few Years Ago
8. What is the impact of
past erosion on productivity?
• Average 7” topsoil lost since farming started ~120 yrs ago
• Impact on production today?
• Soybean: 7” x 0.7 bu/in/a/yr x $13/bu = $64/a/yr
• Corn: 7” x 2.9 bu/in/a/yr x $5/bu = $102/a/yr
• C-S rotation: average loss $83/a/yr
9. “… the slower the emergency, the less
motivated we are to do anything about it.”
Dirt, David R. Montgomery
10. What do we know about
soil health and cover crops today that we
didn’t already know 30 years ago?
18. Downside of Cover Crops
Female meadow voles have a
gestation period of three
weeks, have an average litter
size of five, and produce four
to five litters per year. They
reach sexual maturity at 40
days and have a reproductive
life span of 1 to 2 years
19. Soil Health
Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF)
Physical Score
• bulk density
• water-filled pore space
• water-stable
aggregates
Biological Score
• organic C
• B-glucosidase
• microbial C
• mineralizable N
Chemical Score
• pH
• electrical conductivity
Nutrient Score
• extractable P
• extractable K
20. SMAF Total Score (0-5 cm)
G+CC
Grass/Pasture
NT G
MT G
a
ab
bc
c
c
d
22. “How might we rethink the
conventional wisdom of
conventional agriculture to
find a way to work with
nature?”
Stop “trying to make soil
adapt to our technology.”
Use technology and innovation to
give us the tools to adapt to how
we manage soils.
Premise: Future agricultural will require innovation and technologies
to achieve a sustainable framework for managing soils.
24. Physical Score
• bulk density
• water-filled pore space
• water-stable
aggregates
Biological Score
• organic C
• B-glucosidase
• microbial C
• mineralizable N
Chemical Score
• pH
• electrical conductivity
Nutrient Score
• extractable P
• extractable K
SMAF Total Score (0-5 cm)
Notes de l'éditeur
a commodity that is intended to be used up relatively quickly
As humans, we are a whole lot better at seeing things that we do wrong than we are at seeing things that we do right
Engineer solutions, now we are seeing cover crops as a way to restore function
As humans, we are a whole lot better at seeing things that we do wrong than we are at seeing things that we do right
Engineer solutions, now we are seeing cover crops as a way to restore function
The Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) provides site-specific interpretations for soil quality indicator results. Because the definition of soil quality for your site depends on your management goals, climate, crops, and soil type, a framework approach to soil quality indexing is used. This allows for the necessary differences in site- and goal-specific interpretations of indicator results. The index framework involves three main steps:
Indicator selection to efficiently and effectively monitor the critical soil functions
Interpreting indicators in terms of soil function (using expected ranges determined by the soil's inherent capability)
Combining indicator scores into an integrated index of soil quality (optional). The result is a relative measure of the soil's ability to perform the functions necessary for its intended use.
Andrews et al., 2001