Healthy Soil Offers Sustainable Solutions in a Changing World

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USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service

Oct 05, 2015, 10:00 ET

DAVIS, Calif., Oct. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While a punishing drought lingers, an unpredictable El Nino threatens, and California recovers from recurring wildfires, strategies are in demand to protect the State's natural resources and its famed agricultural productivity from fickle climatic conditions. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California and partners believe at least part of the answer lies just underfoot.

This week the agency is highlighting five farmers who have successfully and profitably increased the health of the soil on their farms resulting in improved system resiliency.

The five farmers are Scott Park, Meridian; Fritz Durst, Esparto; Jesse Sanchez, Firebaugh; Michael Crowell, Turlock, and Russ Lester, Winters. The story of how each discovered and implemented soil health-improving systems on their farm will be featured on successive days in video and print at www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov.

NRCS is also collaborating with Resource Conservation Districts and UC Cooperative Extension to develop regional hubs of soil health innovation in the state. "While NRCS offers technical and financial assistance to those pursuing healthy soil on their farms, we know that sometimes the best way to learn is from others working towards the same goals and encountering the same problems," says NRCS State Conservationist Carlos Suarez.

"Healthy soil is critical for increasing the resiliency of California agriculture," says Suarez. "Healthy soil can absorb water during wet times, and make it available during dry times," he said, noting that a one percent boost in organic matter can result in the top foot of soil holding an extra 25,000 gallons of water.

Furthermore, increasing soil organic matter means less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and more carbon providing energy to support a complex soil food web with all its benefits. "Carbon is a building block of life—putting it back in the soil contributes to ecological balance and greater resiliency for the farmer," says Suarez.

Three years ago NRCS launched a national soil health initiative on Dave Brandt's Ohio farm. Farmers across the Nation are adopting healthy soil systems—reducing or eliminating tillage, managing residue, planting cover crops, and increasing diversity. The cropping systems and climate of California present some unique challenges for agriculture in the state, says Suarez.

California has over 300 agricultural commodities, over 2500 soil types, diverse climatic conditions, complete dependence on irrigation during the summer, and high-value farms with complex management systems. This may limit farmers' willingness to try seemingly untested methods, says Suarez. Crops that need irrigation and/or pollination—the bulk of California's output— increase this complexity still further. Almonds, for example, need a cover crop that blooms when pollinators arrive on the farm, but fades thereafter so as not to compete for the insects' attention.

There are challenges, but the five farmers highlighted this week prove that the health of California soils can be improved through management that focuses on the soil as a living ecosystem, says Suarez.

SOURCE USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service