By Dr. Christine Jones Summary: Several centimeters of topsoil per year can form under favorable conditions, which good management can create. This article explains how. "The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself" (Roosevelt 1937) The future for Australia depends on the future of our soil. The most meaningful indicator for the health of [...]
Christine Jones, PhD www.amazingcarbon.com Nitrogen is a component of protein and DNA and as such, is essential to all living things. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, around 97% of the nitrogen supporting life on earth was fixed biologically. Over the last century, intensification of farming, coupled with a lack of understanding of soil microbial communities, has resulted [...]
At cropping conferences when soil carbon is discussed, a conclusion usually drawn is that it is not possible to lift levels to a significant extent in a short timeframe. Most scientists contend carbon is a useful factor to consider for agronomy but not for sequestration. But Dr Christine Jones disagrees. She contends soil carbon can be increased quickly for [...]
by Brian McMullen, White River National Forest Soil Scientist Download the PDF Presentation, Click here.
By Jim Gerrish Earlier this year I had a ranch client in the San Hills region of Nebraska who was contemplating buying a couple of pivots for pasture-finishing his cattle and was wondering if grazing could be competitive with growing crops on irrigated land. That actually put two questions on the table: 1) Can [...]
Several weeks ago as I was contemplating the water situation here in the Valley, I found myself in the middle of a rant about how pumping water is a moral issue. I normally have these rants in the privacy of my tractor cab gazing over at the Sangres, but this time it was right [...]
Sincerely, Tom Culler Antonito I read an article in a religious magazine once, which told of a young man who had to suddenly take over his father's business upon the unexpected death of his father. The young man often prayed for guidance but felt like his prayers weren't being answered, until one night in [...]
Sincerely Hugh L. Fuchs Del Norte With the 2015 irrigation season starting this week with a couple of start early exceptions, water to irrigate fields and pastures is of vital importance. This interest is brought into keen focus by the Rio Grande Compact delivery schedule. Estimates used for planning yearly deliveries are based on [...]
By Dave Pratt At a recent workshop, I told the audience that if they looked in any farming or ranching publication, they would find articles about cutting feed costs and improving production efficiency, but they wouldn't find anything about reducing land, labor and other overhead costs. There are two reasons for that. First, no [...]
By Heather Smith Thomas Most stockmen using intensive grazing systems are in relatively humid climates or us irrigated pastures, but a few are trying these methods on arid rangelands. It has to be done a bit differently because of the harsher, more brittle environment but many of the principles are still the same. Gary [...]
