Today the Soil Renaissance and Phytobiomes Initiative announced announced a collaboration aimed at understanding how soil health and the broader phytobiomes in which plants exist impact food production for a growing population. In December 2013, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and Farm Foundation, NFP, launched the Soil Renaissance to bring attention to soil health’s critical role in feeding a global …
Soil Health Partners Work Together
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) was launched just shy of a year ago with seed funding in part from Monsanto and technical support from The Nature Conservancy (TNC). That may seem like a case of strange bedfellows, but everyone has the same goal of healthier soils. At the first Soil Health Summit last week in St. Louis, Monsanto Sustainability Business …
Research to Quantify Cover Crop Benefits
A common theme at last week’s 2015 Soil Health Summit in St. Louis was the need to quantify the benefits for farmers of using cover crops. Purdue University economics professor Dr. Wally Tyner is trying to do just that. “I’ve worked in a lot of different areas in economics and this is the hardest nut to crack,” he said. “Because …
Soil Health Partnership Scientific Advisers
The Soil Health Partnership includes an impressive and distinguished panel of scientific advisers who are happy to be involved in an effort they consider to be critical to the future of the world. Most of those advisers attended the first Soil Health Summit held this week in St. Louis. Dr. Wayne Honeycutt, deputy chief for science and technology with USDA’s …
Soil Health Partnership Holds Summit
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) was officially launched at last year’s Commodity Classic so it will just be one year old in another month. But Nick Goeser with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) says the concept had a relatively long gestation period. “The idea for the Soil Health Partnership started in 2011, so within three years we came to …
2015 Designated as International Year of Soils
The United Nations has designated 2015 as the International Year of Soils (IYS) to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of healthy soil for food security and essential ecosystem functions. Soil Renaissance, a group led by our friends at Farm Foundation, is celebrating IYS and its first year in existence as a movement to make soil health the cornerstone …
Calcium Products Opens World Headquarters in Iowa
Calcium Products recently celebrated the grand opening of its new headquarters located at the Iowa State University Research Park, including a new research and development laboratory and customer support center. Calcium Products produces of precision soil amendments that improve soil quality to maximize nutrient uptake and strengthen yields. “Our new headquarters and R&D lab is located in the heart of …
Bio S.I. Tech’s SD 25 Aids Drought Stricken Farm Land
While the Midwest is rife with rain, other areas of the country including California and the southwest have been drought stricken for several years. When this occurs, the farmland needs extra help with naturally occurring microbes. Some areas use pile and burn tactics to improve soil health but not only does this strategy not restore the soil with carbon and …
Soil Renaissance Strategic Plan for Soil Health
Goals and strategies for advancing soil health were announced with the release of the Soil Renaissance Strategic Plan during the World Congress of Conservation Agriculture in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. “This Strategic Plan is a starting point that will evolve and expand as work is completed, new challenges are identified and more individuals and groups join the Soil Renaissance,” said Neil …
iCropTrak Introduces 60 Second Soil Zoning
iCropTrak has released a new mobile farming app with the ability to create a new grower, a new farm, add CLU field boundaries, and soil zones in as little as 60 seconds on an iPad without the need of a desktop or cloud server. According to Cogent 3D president Aaron Hutchinson, this new application means that for the first time, …