Sometimes it takes a bit of an evangelist to remind us that praying at the altar of facts and figures can blind one to how they all connect in the bigger picture. In the case of production systems that build soil health, that preacher is Ray Archuleta. “The soil is naked, hungry, thirsty and running… Read More →
Soil health cheerleader Ray Archuleta and Iowa farmer Mervin Beachy talk about taking agroecological innovations from the “excitement stage” to the “action stage”…and the importance of aha moments. • For more information on how to build soil health profitably, check out LSP’s Soil Builders’ Network page. • Check out this LSP blog on Red Rooster… Read More →
Talking about the importance of feeding soil microbes is fine. Speaking with your feet is even better. “Take a closer look—anything you tramp down is just carbon in the soil,” quips soil conservationist Jay Fuhrer on a Thursday afternoon in early September. As he says this, he’s beckoning some 120 farmers and others to follow… Read More →
Cover crops proved themselves foul weather friends during the Great Drought of 2012. A groundbreaking farmer survey conducted in the Upper Mississippi River watershed showed that during that year’s brutal growing season keeping the soil covered with small grains and other plants helped fields preserve enough precious moisture to provide a yield bump of, in… Read More →
LEWISTON, Minn. — Cattle producer Alejandro Carrillo will tell the story of how he has used regenerative grazing to build soil health and bring his ranch back to life during a series of Land Stewardship Project presentations in Minnesota the first week of February. The events will be held Feb. 1 in Willmar, Minn., Feb. 2 in… Read More →
Ray Archuleta makes a passionate pitch for treating soil like a living, breathing part of the ecosystem.
NRCS soil health evangelist Ray Archuleta shares his passion for “farming in nature’s image.”
BYRON, Minn. — No-till, cover crops and soil health will be the focus of a free Land Stewardship Project (LSP) field day on Tuesday, July 11, from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., on three Byron-area farms. Martin Larsen, Tom Pyfferoen and Curt Tvedt will share their experiences and provide a firsthand look at their soil-building… Read More →
In 2012, I had the great fortune to get a tip about a group of farmers, scientists and government soil conservationists who had teamed up in south-central North Dakota to take a holistic approach to making the land more resilient. By focusing intensively on building soil health utilizing a combination of practices—no-till, managed rotational grazing,… Read More →
On a crisp morning in September, North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown held two handfuls of soil and searched for signs of life—theoretically not a difficult task considering one teaspoon of humus contains more organisms than there are humans in the world. But many of the bacteria and invertebrates that lurk in the dark basement of… Read More →
