Soil Health is especially important in a dry environment such as southern New Mexico. NMSU Professor and Extension Agronomist Dr. John Idowu speaks about a new project and ways we can keep our soil healthy.
The Resilient Agriculture Water Community Systems (RAWCS) project focuses on creating innovative methods to help people, especially farmers, improve water management, Dr. Idowu said.
“Water is becoming a big problem in the western part of the United States. And irrigation water is becoming less and less and we need to grow crops and because of that we need to be innovative in how we use water,” he said.
Researchers focus on looking at the types of systems that can be used to optimize water, said Idowu. There is also an educational component where they reach out to farmers, and train students in water management.
“It’s dwindling we don’t have enough water to salvage the system any longer; the old system is drying up,” he said. “It’s going to take innovation in order to use less water to still achieve the same amount of productivity.”
It is also important for homeowners and gardeners to know when to water and when not, he said. Knowing how to manage soil and keeping it healthy is also essential for both home gardeners and farmers.
One thing gardeners can do to maintain soil health is to add organic matter to the soil, he said. Such as compost, manure or biochar.
Soil health practices such as tillage and cover crops can affect the long-time productivity of crops and improve soil health. Conventional tillage is the traditional method that farmers use where they plow the soil several times. Strip tillage is when the soil is prepared in strips, and seeds are dropped in between. And no till is where the seeds are dropped without the soil being moved.
“Cover crops are crops you grow after your cash crop to cover the ground and to produce nutrients for the soil and also organic matter to add organic matter to the soil,” Idowu said.
At the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center, Idowu and students have looked at different cover crops and tillage systems to see which one improved soil health and crop production. In the third year, they have not seen much impact from tillage because it takes a longer time, but they have seen the impact of cover crops.
“Where we had cover crops, we had about 94% increase in crop yield compared to where there's no cover crop. And where we have compost amendment, we have a 30% increase in yield compared to where there is no compost biochar,” he said.
Biochar is the process of burning carbon without much oxygen, he said. This produces concentrated carbon that helps to increase organic matter in soil.
“It helps the soil to increase its water holding capacity. It also helps with nutrient use sufficiency, it helps with microbial activity there's so many good things that come with biochar when you add it to the soil,” Idowu said.
Being able to manage soil health is what will keep the soil as productive as possible for a longer time, he said.
“A time will come where we will not be able to use our soil again to produce crops in a sustainable way, so soil health is the way to go.”
Especially in a dry and hot place like southern New Mexico, it is important for projects like RAWCS to continue, he says. Strategies that can build soil health like tillage, cover crops and biochar are ways that Dr.Idowu thinks they can move soil health into the right direction.
Find community tools, research and project updates at RAWCS website.
More information on soil health can be found on this NMSU Extensions article, https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_circulars/CR694B/index.html
