6 Soil Tools
Who, What and Why
Who could benefit from the use of one or more of these soiltools? Any farmer, fisherman, city water supply manager, human, animal and even governmental agencies.
What do these soiltools do? Well, they can improve soil health, build more soil, prevent the loss of soil, reduce toxins in the soil and more.
Why would anyone benefit from the use of these SoilTools? Soil is very much related to water in relation to climate, watershed, pollution, food and the natural laws of balance in nature that all life depends on. Without this balance, things start deteriorating and eventually are gone.
The "Laws of Mother Nature" when followed provide abundance in a regenerative life cycle.
Law of the Rights of Mother Earth
The law defines Mother Earth as "...the dynamic living system formed by the indivisible community of all life systems and living beings whom are interrelated, interdependent, and complementary, which share a common destiny; adding that "Mother Earth is considered sacred in the worldview of Indigenous peoples and nations.
In this approach human beings and their communities are considered a part of mother earth, by being integrated in "Life systems" defined as "...complex and dynamic communities of plants, animals, micro-organisms and other beings in their environment, in which human communities and the rest of nature interact as a functional unit, under the influence of climatic, physiographic and geologic factors, as well as the productive practices and cultural diversity of Bolivians of both genders, and the world views of Indigenous nations and peoples, intercultural communities and the Afro-Bolivians. This definition can be seen as a more inclusive definition of ecosystems because it explicitly includes the social, cultural and economic dimensions of human communities.
The law also establishes the juridical character of Mother Earth as "collective subject of public interest", to ensure the exercise and protection of her rights. By giving Mother Earth a legal personality, it can, through its representatives (humans), bring an action to defend its rights. Additionally, to say that Mother Earth is of public interest represents a major shift from an anthropocentric perspective to a more Earth community based perspective.
an·thro·po·cen·tric/ˌanTHrəpəˈsentrik/
adjective regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or animals.
What does Mother Nature do for us?
There is no question that Earth has been a giving planet. Everything humans have needed to survive, and thrive, was provided by the natural world around us: food, water, medicine, materials for shelter, and even natural cycles such as climate and nutrients.
SoilTools 1
Soil Testing
In some cases all 6 tools will make sense, are doable now and will result in your success. If this is the case start out with those you are comfortable with. In all cases for farmers start out with my Logan Labs so you know what you are actually starting with.
But what if you cannot afford to do all 6 or all 6 don't seem to apply to your scene? I would recommend soil testing in the fall or before you plant in the spring. Schedule this testing each year. Why? Because you will know what you need to plan for in the future and can begin preparing for it.
Also if budget is a challenge or a concern, SoilTools 6 may save you money and improve yield at no extra cost.
SoilTools 3
Key-Line Plow
The keyline plow is another one of the SoilTools, and is a high quality specialized sub-soiler tool that helps build top soil from the bottom up. Compacted and clay soils can get a jump start and speed things up when using a keyline plow on contour.
This is one of the soil tools that is gaining popularity over drain tiles and drainage ditches, because not like drain tiles that only address flooding, it makes it possible to store more water in your soil where your crops need it.
Erosion being a factor in the loss of top soil, the keyline plow when used on contour can reduce the losses and when used with cover crops may eliminate erosion completely, even during extreme weather events.
In the U.S. there is at least one keyline plow in most states. When you understand that surrounding fields farmed by your neighbors are part of a watershed and could affect your fields, having a keyline plow to help them becomes important to you and all of your neighbors.
Consider a keyline plow before adding expensive irrigation and drainage systems and let nature and weather do the work for free.
SoilTools 4
Cover-Crops
Check out the video below with Gabe Brown suggested SoilTools and then visit his Soil Health University web site for workshops.
And/Or
Visit Brown's Ranch "Regenerating Landscapes for a Sustainable Future" for information, services and tours.
And/Or
Checkout the Smart Mix selection made just for you.
SoilTools 5
No Till/Little Till
There is a wealth of information available on this subject. Get books, videos and audio here.
SoilTools 6
Proper Seed Spacing
and More
Here is some good advice from Francis Childs, an Iowa farmer who won the National Corn Growers Association yield contest with a world record corn yield of 442 bushels per acre using one of these SoilTools.
Kenaf as a Soil-Tool
Kenaf can also be added as one of these SoilTools.
1. Soil remediation while growing. There is plenty of research on this. Here is one on kenaf.
Kenaf Partners USA would like to help get more kenaf planted each year throughout the U.S., eventually having enough kenaf seed produced here, to supply corn, soy and cotton farmers with the seed quantities they need and want for use as a rotational cash crop.
Because kenaf growing in these fields across the U.S. will result in a substantial lowering of fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides in the soil, this alone will help improve soil health our environment and the health of our bodies.
Conclusion
As you can see each of these SoilTools have had improvement in one or more areas. I urge you to work out your strategy to implement all of them as soon as possible. The USA has been a leader for others around the world and our standards have been high. Lets not compromise on this and keep the bar high with each of these SoilTools. Together we can change the world.