In this episode of In Search of Soil, we have farm educator Jim Hoorman of Hoorman Soil Health Services, and he’ll walk us through some of the questions you might have about tillage and soil compaction—what it is, how it happens, and how to remedy the problems along with a lot of talk on the many benefits of cover crops.  Follow Jim Hoorman - https://www.hoormansoilhealth.com/

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In this episode of In Search of Soil 

• Introducing today’s guest, Jim Hoorman (01:00)
• Describing soil and what makes soil what it is (02:35)
• Poor soil structure: what soil compaction is and how it comes to be (03:45)
• How roots can improve poor soil structure: microaggregates to macroaggregates (07:00)
• The more problematic: tilling the soil vs. oxygenating the soil and bringing the organic matter into the surface (08:10)
• How long the problem of soil compaction can last and how long live roots will take to heal it (12:30)
• No-till and conventional farming: ongoing studies in Ohio State (13:35)
• A major reason behind poor soil structure is because of excess tillage (14:10)
• Different types of tillage and how much damage they do (15:05)
• Using strip-till as a stepping stone to transition to no-till (16:20)
• Why going no-till is only 40% of the solution to soil compaction and how live roots are the key to soil compaction (17:30)
• If cover crops can break down soil, why can’t the cash crops? (20:00)
• How earthworms and earthworm holes can benefit crops (24:10)
• What happens when roots die off and decompose (25:50)
• There’s no such thing as uniform soil conditions because soil is a microenvironment (28:50)
• How cover crops can help break down compaction layers in soil (30:20)  
• Looking at breaking down compaction layers in percentages (32:15)
• Things will get worse before they get better: what production can look like when transitioning to no-till (33:55)
• Building soil from the bottom up vs. from the top down (38:40)
• Let the critters stew the tillage and introduce organic matter into the soil (42:05)
• Sorghum-Sudan adds a tremendous amount of carbon into the soil (44:50)
• Contextualizing soil erosion and sustainability (46:00)
• How much topsoil can be produced in a system that is “doing everything right” (50:35)
• “The whole point of organic matter is to lose it.” (53:15)
• How to approach putting together a multi-species cover crop blend: finding the right balance of carbon and nitrogen in warm and cool species (56:30)
• A specific species mix to target soil compaction (01:00:05)
  • Sorghum-Sudan
  • Annual ryegrass
  • Cereal rye
  • Oats
  • Tillage radish
  • Sunflower
  • Buckwheat
  • Alfalfa  
• Reconciling the nutrient use and crop benefit: looking at carbon as the limiting element in soil (01:01:40)
• Getting more CO2 underground (01:07:25)
• Plants produce 40% more sugars to feed microbes (01:11:15)
• Four Soil Health Principles (01:16:00)
  • Minimize soil disturbance
  • Maximize live roots
  • Maximize surface residue
  • Maximize biodiversity
  • (Optional) grazing or adding livestock
• Companion planting: the next step in the evolution of farming? (01:18:15)
• The correlation between soil health and plant health and how they affect nutrient density (01:21:55)
• How to improve plants’ photosynthesis and get healthier plants (01:27:15)  
• The barrel staves theory and how micronutrients all fit together (01:29:45)
• Will there be a day when we could remove most inputs, replace them with cover cropping, and achieve yields as good as they are now? (01:33:15)
  • Rick Clark Farms – 7,000 acres organic corn, soybean, and wheat
• Cover cropping and applying soil health principles in small-scale farming (01:39:20)
• When to consider applying aboveground amendments: micronutrients, enzymes, biostimulants, etc. (01:42:40)
• Making your own inoculants for your own operation (01:48:25)
  • Dr. David Johnson’s Static Compost
• Micronutrients, denitrification, and some thoughts to consider about water quality (01:51:00)