2018 Farm Outlook

2018 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Oct. 25, 2018 Page 37 “With a healthy soil you can hold more things,” said Derek. “Like when we put nitrogen on in the fall. So, there are things called N-Serve, which is a nitrogen stabilizer. The idea is it keeps the nitrogen from leaching away or gassing off or converting. What we’ve been able to do is last year, if your soil is healthy enough, you shouldn’t need something like a nitrogen stabilizer. It’ll hold it’s own without leaching away. “So, last year we did no nitrogen stabilizer and we did a trial of 28 percent, which can be volatile or due to leaching away. We put 28 percent on a field, we split it in half, 28 percent and (in or as?) anhydrous. We found out this spring that we held that 28 percent all through winter, without any nitrogen stabilizer because our soil was healthy enough to hold that there.” “That’s a real small scale and it’s just the beginning stages of what could be,” added Doug. The Martin boys are on the cutting edge of something huge. “We hope so,” smiled Doug. “It might not be exactly what we are doing now, but it’s a step in that direction as we develop these things it evolves. Just in the last two years, it’s really evolved. And it changes, but we are kind of getting comfortable with some of the things. From where we started to where we are today, it’s changed fifteen times, you know, how we’re doing things, and it just constantly changes. But I do think it’s a step in the direction where we will end up one day.” The Martins both stressed that soil health is the new fad in the agriculture industry. Derek noted that the topic is covered in every Ag magazine these days and all over social media. “A lot of that is due to the Ag economy has been bad the last three to four years,” Doug said, offering his perspective. “There has been negative farm income and it’s bad for all of us. We are all feeling the effects of it. But a lot of those down turns in the Ag economy sometimes spur innovative things like this. People get a little more creative when they are not so comfortable with how things are going. They are looking for new ways to improve CONTINUED This is a mix of crimson clover, oats, radish, and buckwheat that the Martin Family Farm uses for a cover crop.