In this episode you’ll hear from a number of farmers and consultants about their systems-based approach to farming and soil health. Starting with Ontario farmers Woody Van Arkle who recalls the first time he heard Dr. Lee Briese speak to a group of farmers. His practical approach is the result of looking at a field as a system. Lee, who is a crop consultant for Centrol Ag Consulting, stresses this systems-based thinking approach to farming and soil health.

“What are you gonna do? Where's your next crop? Where are you going? How's this gonna be? So I can't just stand in front of a room of 300 people and say, there you go. You start here and then you go here and you go here and you go here. You simply can't do that…. There is no prescription, but you're trying to teach people to be an ecosystem's manager. To do that, you have to be observing what's happening.” - Dr. Lee Briese

North Dakota farmer Mark Olson found out that strip tillage was the right approach for his system. He’s seen the results in both his soil and his yields, and he even says the approach saved his crop a couple of years ago. He tells other farmers to “keep learning, never quit and keep trying.” Mark’s crop consultant, Matt Olson (no relation), said he had a few concerns when Mark wanted to dive headfirst into cover crops and strip tillage but said the results have been undeniable.

“All of a sudden we started going from 40 bushel soybeans to 60 bushel soybeans by implementing strip till and cover crops. Also seeing that we probably weren't introducing any new weeds. We were actually getting better weed control by having the ground covered which is huge for us in our water hemp neck of the woods and kosha neck of the woods and stuff like that.” - Matt Olson

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we talk about a problem that many farmers run into on their soil health journeys: residue management. But rather than just focus on one field, we’ve collected a handful of different perspectives and experiences for you. You’ll hear from two farmers and two researchers about this challenge and how they’re finding ways to maximize the benefits of residue while managing the challenges that can come with it. Farmer Sam Landman describes the problems that residue has caused on his farm in the past, and how he’s tried to address them. He is in the process of trying different seeding equipment and timing to better manage his residue issue.

“We're wrestling with high moisture in our soils, being able to get into it, and then also high residue. We have hair pinning problems with our no-till equipment, like our single disc drills and disc planters and stuff. If the residue isn't quite dry or if it's too thick it'll hair pin and then the seed won't have any soil contact and it won't come up…. so we're having residue management challenges and moisture challenges and that's the biggest thing.” - Sam Landman

Soil Scientist Dr. Caley Gasch  addressed this challenge at a previous DIRT workshop. Caley has since moved from NDSU up to Alaska, but she is included in this episode to help explain how a more biologically active soil can eventually help reduce some of these residue issues. Caley’s colleague Dr. Aaron Daigh, who is now at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln speaks to the challenge of getting soil with residue to heat up in the spring. He says shallow vertical tillage might be a good option for many farmers.

“You kind of have to get a little creative by incorporating some cover crops to change those carbon-nitrogen ratios so that that residue starts to decompose. Or maybe you try strip till as sort of your transition tool to migrate into a reduced till system. But as that soil begins to recover, as those microbes and fungi and, and earthworms and insects return to that soil and boost their numbers in response to the lack of disturbance, they're gonna take care of that residue over time.” - Dr. Caley Gasch

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we talk about the challenge of getting cover crops implemented in a system, and highlight how barley can be a helpful crop in overcoming some of these challenges. You’re going to hear from two guests today: Dr. Dave Franzen,  soil scientist with NDSU Extension, and Jason Hanson, crop consultant and owner of Rock & Roll Agronomy. Dr. Franzen shares about the challenges of getting cover crops established in a corn/soybean rotation in North Dakota.

“If you just look at the corn and soybean rotation, the opportunity to grow some kind of a cover crop is pretty low in this region. But with barley, you're taking it off early in the season. You often have two months time for you to grow a cover crop. And it's not unusual to grow a ton of dry matter with rye or oats and or radish or just leaving the barley as a volunteer and using that as the grass, which is to me, the cheapest thing to do. So that's a big win.” - Dr. Dave Franzen

Unfortunately, every year we see soil from farmer’s fields blowing away. Dr. Franzen has been studying the impacts of barley added into these rotations, and says he can confidently answer the question on whether or not it can help the soil health. Jason echoes this solution and introduces us to one of his farmers’ fields of barley and how they’re approaching their management and soil health. Jason says that going no till is definitely an option for some of his farmers, but others don’t want to go down that road. He points out that even for those who have to work the field, there are options for minimizing disturbance.

“It's all part of a system that you gotta sit and look back and look at your rotation, your farmer, his equipment, how the harvest is gonna go. I guess that's the fun part and the challenge. It's not easy…. It's like if we do this, we have to think ahead of time as to what we want to do.” - Jason Hanson

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we are back with Mark Huso of Huso Crop Consulting based in Lakota, North Dakota. Mark shares about the value he has found in diversifying crop rotations. Over the years in working with several different farmers, Mark has seen the value both agronomically and economically in adding crops to the rotation, as long as they contribute to what he calls field health: which combines soil health and productivity. It can be difficult, he admits, for some farmers to initially get excited about the idea of considering new crops for the rotation.

“We've always had the option. It feels like we're choosing simplicity over crop rotation…So don't fix what's not broken. However, as the guys have included a third crop, a fourth crop, a fifth crop, a sixth crop, a seventh crop. We have two farms that have seven crops on their farms because they're seeing a benefit to adding different crops in the rotation.” - Mark Huso

Mark has seen firsthand how this diversification can improve field health, water utilization, weed suppression, operational efficiencies, and even help to manage salinity. While barley is known for being a great crop for saline areas, Mark says changing things up to include not only barley but also other crops, can really help.

“It's taking away the saline areas, you know the corn grew past the soybean ground. The sunflowers are growing past where the corn stocks were. So it's managing the salinity as we're seeing that ground improve. Now, if we had just stayed barley soybeans, barley soybeans, barley soybeans. It would be the same or get worse, but because we changed rotations and the roots in the soil are changing, we're utilizing more water. We're managing salinity that way by simply changing the crop.” - Mark Huso

We often talk about soil health on this show, but talking about field health is a very intentional distinction in the way that Mark looks at things. Once a farmer heads down this road, just like anything else, it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. Mark says the overall results have been positive, but sometimes logistics can become a challenge.

“A healthy field is a field that raises a great crop. And so that is based on drainage, it's based on crop rotation and it's based on the field being weed free, a clean field. And so sometimes my no-till fields are some of the dirtier fields, because they're tougher to manage. But after a couple years they're the cleanest fields because they've been managed the right way. And so I'm trying to change my soil health more to field health.” - Mark Huso

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we are joined by Mark Huso of Huso Crop Consulting based in Lakota, North Dakota. After working in ag retail, Mark decided to start his own company over a decade ago doing independent crop consulting. This year has been especially challenging for Mark’s producers. He was really happy with the way things were looking with cattails and with the fields in general last fall, but 2022 snow and rains really have made things difficult. He shares about some of the unique challenges his farmers have experienced, how they have approached prevent plant acres, and how he wishes more people would look at tillage.

“We had a lot of fall tillage done, fields were in really nice shape. We were gonna get a lot of acres back. And then towards the end of fall right before freeze up, we had a fair amount of rain. Then we had a lot of snow and then we had a lot of rain coming into March, April and into May. And so, very challenging, very late start, awfully wet….So what we were hoping was going to be a tremendous 2022 in terms of acres, production and efficiency did not happen.” - Mark Huso

In difficult times like this in North Dakota, we end up with a lot of prevent plant acres. Initial considerations involve weed management, cover crop selections and residue management followed by what crop will they pursue in 2023.  And this is an important consideration for cover crops in general. Before deciding what to plant it’s important to make sure it’s compatible with whatever you’re hoping to plant into that ground the following year.

“I would try to let that (cover) crop go as long as you can. The benefits of cover crop and radish and turnip is letting them grow in the soil and get a nice established root system. So if we do get a lot of rain again, this fall and winter, it has somewhere to go...When we put a soil probe in a prevent plant field that has a full season radish, turnip and rye mix. I mean, there is no compaction. Those roots are doing what they're supposed to do, and they're providing a nice root structure for that soil, allowing for water to drain through that. We can smell it. We can feel it. You can see it. There's something real to those cover crops being in the soil.” - Mark Huso

Over the years, Mark has seen the pros and cons of a variety of farming practices. His overall advice to farmers is to experiment with what works best for your particular operation and to use tools such as tillage in a way that's as needed rather than applied generally across the farm.

“Not jumping in with both feet. That has hurt more than it's helped. I mean I'm all for trying new things. My brother Scott would say, “You can't swim if you don't dive in.” And sure, that's right for a lot of applications, but you know, this year for example, to be honest…the straight up no-till was some of our most troublesome fields….And so you don't need your great-grandfather's tillage. You need your type of tillage for 2022…I'm calling it tillage by assignment.” - Mark Huso

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

Field testing new products is an important and sometimes overlooked role that agronomists and crop consultants can play. Jason Hanson joins us again on the program to talk about the types of products he has been testing, what has worked and what hasn’t worked for him in the past. He shares how these trials help to lower risk for farmers on products that even if great, might not be great for their area. You may remember, Jason is a crop consultant and the owner of Rock and Roll Agronomy based in Webster, North Dakota.

“Consultants are inherently very conservative when it comes to spending their clients money and trying to find things that will benefit them, whether that is post emerge spraying, fertility, or trying to find information on bio stimulants. All these things that are approaching the market. I'm gonna look at some products they are saying can alleviate or work on salinity…Now, I don't know how it's going to do what it does, but I want to see what is out there because sometimes you gotta step out of your comfort zone and give anything the benefit of the doubt.” - Jason Hanson

Just like farmers only get one opportunity a year to make a crop, researchers and agronomists only get one shot to get good data on these emerging products. Jason says ultimately, it’s all about trying to lower the risk for farmers, and save them money. He says at the moment he’s looking at a few different biological products, including biostimulants.

“I'm really interested in some of the things they have to say and what they're doing but I have to validate it with my customers to see that it's there as well. So to go from putting on N P K to reducing it and putting on something else… I'd still like to try it, because a lot of times companies will come out with this is the national average, and then you can find parts of the country, whether that's fertility, whether that's fungicide, where it's a lot higher.” - Jason Hanson

In the past Jason has found success with soybean innoculants. Biofungicides and insecticides have not been proven more beneficial than conventional methods for Jason and his clients. At the core of his recommendations is research, data and results in his area. While he sees biostimulants as the future of agriculture he hasn’t seen sufficient data to be able to know when and how to confidently recommend their use at this time.

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we talk about full season and perennial cover crops. These are great options in not only prevent plant situations, but also trying to manage the health of saline soils. As we’ve done on several episodes of this season of Field Check, we will also highlight the agronomic, logistical, and safety considerations when growing these types of cover crops. Assistant professor and soil health extension specialist Dr. Abbey Wick, said she has been expecting a lot of prevented planting acres this year.

“I think farmers are working as hard as they can as quickly as they can to get crops in the field, but some of those areas, or some of those fields are just gonna be ones that they're not gonna get to. And so in that case, we really wanna encourage a full season cover crop to manage that field just like you would with a cash crop.” - Dr. Abbey Wick

Abbey recommends looking at the NDSU Soil Health Cover Crop Booklet and the Grazing Cover Crop Booklet for more insight and information into this process. Dr. Kevin Sedivec, who as many of you know is a professor of range science at NDSU, says to prioritize soil health first when selecting full season cover crops. He also recommends considering whether you’ll be leaving it idle, grazing it or haying it.

“We should always think of soil health first. If I can create a food base to enhance the soils, I can then tweak that to make it good for livestock.” - Dr. Kevin Sedivec

Kevin highlights that if bailing is selected you need to understand that you are removing carbon from your ecosystem. He says there is a balance to be considered and achieved with regard to how much carbon you are adding with manure from livestock and how much you are removing with bailing. If you do decide to bail your cover crops, there are some really important safety considerations to also keep in mind. NDSU extension farm and ranch safety coordinator. Angie Johnson says it's especially important to remember safe practices when operating baling equipment.

“There are so many moving parts, whether you've got a belt baler, a chain baler, or a roller baler.  With all of those rotating parts, you have extra areas where we call pinch points or rat points, so areas where you can get your fingers or limbs in some pretty serious danger. And so focus on reading that operator's manual on how you perform maintenance.” - Angie Johnson

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we explore the question of how to improve soil health in fields that are just too wet. From drainage tile to cover crops, Dr. Lee Briese visits some of the strategies and tactics he uses with the farmers he works with. Lee is a Crop Consultant covering Stutsman and Barnes Counties in North Dakota for Centrol Ag Consulting. He has been scouting fields and providing recommendations for farmers in North Dakota for over 20 years. He says there hasn’t been a year he would classify as ‘normal’ in quite a while, and that this year has been especially challenging.

“We went from this field's going to be corn, this field's going to be wheat, this field's going to be soybeans to what field is dry enough to plant today. So a lot of those plans just went out the window. And so we're at the point now once we get them planted, then we figure out how we can deal with those weeds.” - Dr. Lee Briese

And especially in years like this, there are fields or areas of fields that are just always wet, and present their own set of problems like trafficability issues, weed pressure and salinity. Lee relies on his creativity and the tools in his toolbox to address these types of growing conditions.

“It's the same kind of principles, but it's a different thought process and it's a different prescription…Really what we're trying to do here now is use moisture out of sync of our cash crops… Instead of using tillage, because the tillage uses moisture through evaporation, but that evaporation increases salinity making the salts worse and we already have salt problems…We're using plants for the roots to go to 6, 8, 12, 14 inches deep to move the water from below instead of evaporating off the surface.” - Dr. Lee Briese

Lee mentioned their using crops like cereal rye to address these saline spots. This technique then distributes the salt throughout the soil profile reducing the risk of excess salinity while still capturing some of the moisture. Cereal rye can also serve as a “bridge to get across to move through that field” when trafficability becomes a concern. Lee reminds growers that you really need to assess the needs of each individual field first and then have the necessary tools to apply whatever that field needs.

“There's so many influencing factors that when you're trying to put together this plan this is why you have to look at the field. What are you trying to do? What can you work into your system? What is not gonna work?... It's about looking at your field, assessing each individual field with what are the challenges or problems that you're facing, and then designing a system that addresses those challenges.” - Dr. Lee Briese

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode we explore one of the most wonderful and unique aspects of farming, the ability to leave a real tangible legacy for your children. The sentiment and realization of that legacy is predicated on the quality of soil you pass along to them.  NDSU Soil Health Specialist Dr. Abbey Wick and farmer Kerry Swindler about the importance of protecting the soil for this legacy. NDSU Extension Farm & Ranch Safety Coordinator Angie Johnson goes onto share about how to safely involve your children on the farm.

“Farmers in general, they're not farming for themselves. They’re farming for the next generation. They're thinking of the future of their farms, how they're going to set up the next generation for the best possible situation financially, but then also in their resources…..So if we’re really thinking about farm legacy, protecting that soil is your number one priority.” -  Dr. Abbey Wick

Mott, North Dakota farmer Kerry Swindler has experienced this firsthand. He remembers how much topsoil they lost from tillage, and he actually remembers the day over 40 years ago he and his father decided to make a change to preserve their topsoil and promote soil health on their operation.

“I stopped my combine and I went over and I got on my dad's combine and I said, “Dad, we gotta do something here or there's not gonna be any land left for me to farm, much less my kids.” And he could see it….And it was a shock in a lot of ways, but it didn't take long to start seeing some of the benefits.” - Kerry Swindler

Farming is unique in that it is multi-generational, and it’s certainly a joy to watch the next generation get interested in agriculture. But tragic farm accidents involving children are all-too-common, and NDSU Extension Farm & Ranch Safety Coordinator Angie Johnson says it’s important to remember that farms are job sites.

“It's the only work site where children are ever allowed. You don't bring your kids to a construction zone or you don't take them on to work with you in most cases. And so it's very unique and we need to realize that at some point we need to be mindful and …..I think it is so crucial that we match a child's ability with a task on the farm.” - Angie Johnson

Angie recommends creating an open dialogue with kids where they can communicate questions and concerns while working on the farm. Incorporating them into the operation is not only teaching them what tasks are appropriate and how to perform them safely but also having open lines of communication so they can voice their concerns and stay safe.

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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

In this episode crop consultant Jason Hanson discusses a soil-related issue many farmers have to deal with, salinity. Jason owns Rock and Roll Agronomy based in Webster, North Dakota. He said while salinity is a constant issue in many of the fields in his area, it’s especially concerning this year after a wet spring. Those wet conditions paired with high commodity prices can make it tempting to plant ground into cash crops when it might not be the best approach. He shares the story of one field that even after years of a salt tolerant grass, the saline spots still weren’t ready to go back into corn or soybeans.

“Some of this ground, the best thing for it is to just square it off, get it into a grass that you can hold habitat. You can hay it. You're not pouring money into it. And that's its use because it's not an economic drain and you're gonna get some of the benefits you don't have.” -  Jason Hanson

Obviously every farmer wants to plant as much of a field as possible into crops that will generate the most revenue, but Jason says you have to look at both profitability and long term viability of the land. He is encouraging farmers to stick with these salt-tolerant grasses to prevent the salinity problems from getting worse.

“Barley is the thing I’m gonna tackle it with because people have some barley left over in bins and that's what we're gonna do to try to mitigate it. Because it's going to want to spread out. We got our water tables high. This thing's gonna get worse before it gets better.” - Jason Hanson

Some farmers look to tiling fields to help with drainage in situations like this, but Jason says even with tile, salinity problems can persist, especially when they’re coupled with sodicity problems. Jason recommends addressing any salinity issues early to prevent them from spreading. Jason says there are some crops that will handle salinity better than others.

“Even when you tile in some of these scenarios, the worst case is it's gonna take a long time. And I think people have to realize that some of this stuff, if it's mild, low key, you can manage it. That's still probably 5, 6, 7 year type of deal to get it back to better than it was. It probably isn't going to be the same as some of your other ground that you have…We can try our best but it's a slow process.” - Jason Hanson

Follow the link www.NDFieldCheck.com to participate in our next question and answer segment to share your questions and get them answered by the experts!

Connect with Soil Sense at Soil Sense Initiative

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