In recent years, there’s been a visible shift of farmers and growers, especially the younger ones, moving into more regenerative agricultural practices. That as may be, there are still a sizeable amount of growers who are firm in their conventional practices for one reason or another.

In this episode of In Search of Soil, we’re talking to Dr. Gabe Kenne of the University of South Carolina to share a bit about trialing different growing practices involving tillage, no-till, and cover crops, as well as some of the nuances behind the varied soil tests we can get for our land.

Dr. Gabe Kenne is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Soil Molecular Biologist whose field of interest includes examining ways to better understand healthy soils in agricultural systems and how to subsequently promote agricultural practices that are environmentally responsible and sustainable. Currently, he is exploring nutrient cyclin potential in variously managed agricultural soils, as well as ways in which crops can be healthy and productive while minimizing synthetic inputs.

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In this episode of In Search of Soil

• Diego introduces the episode’s guest, Dr. Gabe Kenne (00:24)
• Areas of regenerative agriculture that deserve more research (01:45)
• Proposing research for potential solutions that affect farmers’ livelihoods (04:34)
• A long-held traditional agricultural view that farmers firmly hold onto (05:51)
• Reasonable expectations to set when going no-till (08:14)
• Where science is right now with regards to no-till (10:30)
• On individuals perceiving no-till as a risky endeavor (14:02)
  • The cover crop project (16:05)
  • Project participants and their shifted views (18:48)
• Tremendous changes in soil in the cover crop project (20:30)
• Where is the rise in soil organic matter coming from? (23:16)
• The increase of organic matter in the soil relative to the increase of organic matter on the soil surface (26:56)
• The role of no-till in building the soil underground with cover crops (29:07)
• The lesser evil: no-till with fallow or cover crop with tillage? (31:00)
• The worries in a no-till, no cover crop model (32:34)
• What a farmer should expect with four different treatments (34:30)
• What to start thinking about when it comes to traditional agriculture vs. regenerative agriculture (37:23)
• Is it possible to grow cash crops with regenerative ag without adding nitrogen? (39:20)
• A bigger cumulative yield (41:32)
• Agriculture as a tool to sink carbon into the soil (42:52)
• Is there a cap on how much carbon soil can take? (46:55)
• Crop performance relative to increases in soil carbon (49:42)
• Putting microbes back into the soil in conventional agriculture (51:50)
• The difference between soil tests (54:50)
• Where soil tests can be inaccurate (59:52)
• How many soil tests are there? (01:02:43)
• A misfit soil test based on your farming management system (01:04:16)
• Can a soil test be argued to be useless? (01:05:10)
• If people want to get a biological soil test (01:08:44)
• A patch work solution to soil tests in different contexts (01:10:30)