What if your soil test just came back, and suddenly someone tells you that your soil’s nutrient values will stay consistent regardless of whether or not you put amendments? Understandably, you would find that hard to believe. You’d probably ask, where is it coming from, and where does it go?

Today, we’re talking to Dr. Buz Kloot of Soil Health Lab to discuss just that.

Dr. Buz Kloot began his professional career as a chemical engineer. He then joined the University of South Carolina in 1999 and has since worked on various agriculture and environmental quality projects. His passion for soil health brings him to work closely and collaboratively with farmers.

More on Buz: https://soilhealthlabs.com/

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In this episode of In Search of Soil:

• How Dr. Kloot’s background in chemical engineering helped him with his research in the soil space (01:52)
  • Meeting Ray Archuleta changed how Dr. Kloot saw soil (03:17)
• The pros and cons of coming into soil science without a soil science background (03:55)
• The biggest mistake Dr. Kloot made that helped him advance his knowledge (05:44)
• Dr. Kloot’s view on the importance of soil micronutrients for plant growth (08:14)
• The argument of adding micronutrient and macronutrient amendment to the soil (10:20)
• Where the soil potassium comes from when you’re not applying it (13:54)
• The potential of clay soils and the biology (16:31)
• Soil testing: is it really beneficial despite the lack of information of the soil biology? (18:22)
  • The value of soil tests is based on calibrated returns (20:57)
  • Outdated soil recommendations from half a decade ago (23:15)
• The possibility and plausibility of going farming with zero chemical amendments (23:20)
  • The caveat is needing to build your soil first (24:48)
• Do we have a better understanding of aquatic systems than soil systems? (27:05)
• The five principles of soil health (29:34)
  • Keep disturbance to a minimum (31:05)
  • Keep the soil covered with a living canopy (31:15)
  • Keep a live root in the soil all year round (31:35)
  • Keep diversity, diversity, diversity (32:30)
  • Integrate livestock back into your system (33:12)
• What ticks 3 boxes all at once: multispecies cover crops (33:52)
• A case study of practicing multispecies cover crops (35:45)
  • Jason Carter’s cover crop trial (36:12)
• Farmers’ concerns on why they wouldn’t grow cover crops (42:00)
  • The potential added costs (43:35)
  • Planting into the residue (45:00)
  • Let’s be intelligent about choosing cover crops (46:52)
• Emulating hoof action of animals with a Phillips Harrow (47:27)
• The potential soil damage that comes from chemical herbicide (50:58)
  • Francis Chaboussou: the excess nitrogen we use make plants tastier for pests (53:09)
• Tillage or herbicides: which would cause less damage (55:02)
• The Holy Grail of terminating cover crops: no tillage, no herbicides (57:18)
• Choosing between a single species of cover crop that terminates easily mechanically or a multispecies cover crop that is tricky to terminate (58:20)
• The why and how behind the steady levels of phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium in the soil (59:37)
• The idea of looking more into plant tissues to determine soil health (01:02:58)
  • Looking at plant sap analysis rather than plant tissue analysis (01:05:25)
• Where foliar fertilization comes into the context (01:06:40)
• Foliar feeding versus root feeding via soil drenching (01:08:24)
• Growing a perennial-type cover crop and keeping it alive (01:09:47)
• Dr. Kloot’s opinion on seeds co-existing with cash crops (01:12:05)
• Looking at weeds from an academic standpoint (01:15:27)
  • What we need is a better ecological understanding of weeds (01:16:16)
• Anecdotes of no-till farms with no weeds (01:17:38)
• Weeds aren’t there to rectify the problem (01:20:00)
  • The true interests of weeds (01:21:00)
• Weeds don’t form mycorrhizal relationships in the roots—they form them aboveground (01:22:18)
• Cation exchange capacity and what it actually means (01:23:35)
• Tackling experiments and ventures that don’t yield the expected results (01:27:28)
• Be mindful of your context (01:30:15)