2018 Farm Outlook

Page 36 2018 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Oct. 25, 2018 farming practices we’ve done for the last 50- 100 years. We’ve destroyed those.” “A lot of the commercial fertilizers and chemicals have a high salt content and things like that which are detrimental to the beneficial microbes and fungi in the soil,” added Doug. “So with the non-beneficial, your soil is not as healthy, and so what we have tried to do here through this, is reintroduce beneficial bacteria and fungi to our soil, as well as get rid of the non-beneficials and try to get your soil healthier,” explained Derek. “The product we use is BioMax and we make it here. It has over 4,000 beneficial bacteria and fungi in it. What that does is it helps, for example, we spray it in the fall and put it in in the spring. In the fall on your leftover corn stalks or your bean stubble or whatever, it captures those nutrients that are left behind and keeps them and converts them to a readily usable form and holds them until the next growing season. Whereas before the non- beneficials would eat it and gas it off and we’d lose it. “So, in comes the cover crop side of that. The more diverse your soil is, the better. “We’ve been a monoculture corn, corn, corn - beans, beans, beans. So this gives it diversity. When your soil sees diversity it does different things and it also allows those microbial to feed. It’s like a food source for them throughout the year. “We have thousands of pounds of fertilizer, like P and K, phosphorus and potassium, that are in the soil that aren’t in a readily usable form. So, when you improve your soil biology and your soil health, it takes those nutrients that are there and converts them to a readily usable form, which in turn leads to less money out of the farmer’s pocket on spending for P and K and to apply it. Because most phosphorus and potassium you put on this fall, maybe only ten percent of it is available to the crop next year. “So through all this, Doug, Dad and I have gone through training. We’ve got microscopes, computers and labs here so we can take soil samples and then we look at each batch and we are trained now to identify good soil aggregation or bad soil aggregation. Or if you have anaerobic bacteria, which is non- beneficial, versus aerobic. We can identify all those things with a microscope and through a soil tests. “With the soil aggregation, what that does is when you have a healthier soil it allows your soil to hold water, it allows water to infiltrate and get away faster and it allows you to hold more things.” “But it’s also a process,” chimed in Doug. “It’s not something that happens overnight. We are saying it’s a three to five year process to get the soils at the proper PH and fertility levels before you begin this process.” CONTINUED