Let’s move on now to our Video of the Week and a highlight from Brian Hefty’s Strip-Till Conference presentation. The Ag PhD co-host shared 16 things he pays attention to on his soil tests, starting with soil organic matter.  

“Nitrogen. Everybody this year said, ‘Well, the nitrogen prices went sky high. What do I do? How do I cut? What should I do with this?’ The number one thing your fertilizer dealer isn’t telling you is right here. For every 1% of soil organic matter, your soil is releasing for free every single year, a whole bunch of nitrogen, phosphate and sulfur. So, for example, if I had 5% organic matter soil, we’re going to get 100 to 150 free pounds of nitrogen every single year. And if you don’t factor that in, you’re overapplying your nitrogen. Now, nutrient release is going to be greater in well-drained soils that are warmer and soils that are healthy, with lots of microbial life. On my farm, I’m actually getting more than 30 pounds out for every 1% of soil organic matter every single year. It’s awesome. Saving me tons of money because I now know this. And for every 1% of soil organic matter increase in your soil. As you build the soil organic matter with strip-till, for example, the average soil can hold approximately 4% more water for each 1% in soil organic matter.” 

Watch the full Video of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.