In this episode we are joined by two brothers from Northeast North Dakota who have each been on their own soil health journeys while supporting and pushing each other to keep getting better in farming and agronomy. Scott Huso farms with his wife Elizabeth south of Aneta, North Dakota. Mark Huso is the owner of Huso Crop Consulting where he works with and consults for many different types of farms across Northeast North Dakota. The Husos come from a farming background, but didn’t inherit the family farm, which was sold in the 1980s.

Together they share their soil health journeys, how they are staying true to principles but not necessarily individual practices and how they are constantly pushing each other to explore different ways to maximize both productivity and soil health. Neither Scott or Mark are really dogmatic about no-till. “I am all about soil health. I’m not all about no-till,” shares Mark. They are fully committed to soil health, but also recognize that they need to use every tool at their disposal to produce a good crop no matter what mother nature sends their way. For Scott, soil health is about increasing infiltration and building soil biology.

“We're trying to increase the pockets in the soil that have air because they need to be there to allow water to flow through rather than holding the water up. And then we're trying to get more microorganism activity to create these pathways and whatnot. What we're also trying to do is place the fertilizer where the crop is going to get it. And so rather than spreading it all over, it makes a lot more sense to put it where the crop needs it.” -Scott Huso

This practical approach takes into consideration what can be done when something happens and a particular practice is not the right thing for those conditions. Because as Mark says, you just can’t ignore the logistics of it all. While these logistics can often impact the individual practices, it doesn’t change the principles.

“So much of what we're trying to provide answers for with farmers is pick variety A over variety B or pick this fertilizer over that fertilizer. And truthfully some of the biggest yield advantages happen simply from mechanics, from row spacing, from tillage, and from different drill types.” - Mark Huso

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Soil Sense Podcast is hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.