Regenerative agriculture is no passing trend. It is a comprehensive movement among farmers to more deeply understand how we can all responsibly get the most out of our land. Preserving the fertility of our soil is in everyone's best interests, consumers and producers alike. Let's learn some simple regenerative practices that can help increase farming production as well as build health into your soil year after year.
Soil testing is an all-too-important step for any growing operation. Redmond's fast and easy Soil Test Kit can help your crops start off on the right track. In order to really dive into regenerating your soil, first find out where your levels are at.
Soil testing:
Responsible water usage not only saves money and resources, but can also help reduce the leaching of valuable minerals from your soil.
Using soil moisture sensors, weather monitoring, and irrigation software, you can have a winning combination to help you plan a water-wise irrigation schedule.
Modern farming operations are starting to notice the benefits of not tilling before planting. Leaving your tilling equipment parked can help reap major benefits this growing season.
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the no-till method, is thinking that decaying organic matter on the surface won’t reach the root zones unless you till. Not true! Old plant matter will still decay, break down, and distribute nutrients to your root zones, even without tilling.
Reducing the numbers of passes you take over your fields cuts down on labor costs, fuel usage, and machinery wear and tear. Save yourself time and unnecessary costs by giving no-till a try sometime. Plus, reducing the passes of heavy machinery over your land better preserves the natural soil structure already in place.
Leaving plant residue on the surface of your soil greatly reduces erosion from wind and weather. Check out this side by side video of un-tilled vs. tilled soybean fields under high winds!
Leftover plant residue efficiently holds precipitation onto your fields, especially during the winter and early spring. Old plant stocks act as natural snow fences and force storms to drop snow onto your land instead of blowing over and stripping your topsoil of moisture, even during the off season.
Cover crops are a group of plants that can either be grown during the off season, or as strategic undergrowth with taller crops. Below is an example of growing cover crops concurrently with a main crop (oats, clover, and vetch planted in between rows in a vineyard).
Cover crops can provide many benefits for any growing operation:
Most cover crops are in the legume family and help store vital nitrogen in their roots.
Livestock grazing can help prepare pastures for the next growing season, especially when rotating crops (see crop rotation below).
Grazing animals can help:
It is important, however, to avoid overgrazing and give plants time to recover and rest after a grazing session. A pasture should receive anywhere from 30-90 days of recovery before you allow grazing to continue. You can also divide fields into cells and graze sections at a time to avoid overgrazing.
Do you need your grazers’ help in certain sections of your pasture? Disperse Redmond Minerals in problem areas and your grazers’ natural cravings will attract them and encourage them to get them to work!
For thousands of years, farmers have recognized that you cannot grow the same crop on the same plot of land indefinitely. The tried and true practice of crop rotation is a beneficial way to renew your pastures. Different crops utilize soil nutrients at different rates and you can easily strip fertility from your land by sticking with the same crop every year.
Crop rotation can take many forms:
Crop rotation:
It is easy to get caught in a Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium (NPK) rut when it comes to fertilizing your land. Plants need more than just NPK in order to thrive. In fact, overusing these products has adverse effects on your local water sources and downstream (i.e. excessive nitrogen use in farming causes seasonal toxic algae blooms and aquatic dead zones.) Instead of flushing your land with excess NPK, invest in the health of your soil microbes with trace minerals.
Providing your soil with a broader mineral profile than just NPK (including trace minerals) will help you reap many benefits:
Redmond Minerals has supported healthy farming operations across the country since the 1950s.
Our mineral products for soil and livestock, naturally contain a full spectrum of sea minerals that nourish the world from the ground up.
Redmond Minerals excels at helping growers:
For a deeper dive into the benefits of regenerative agriculture, visit our friends over at White Oaks Pastures to learn more.
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