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Can Taller Cover Crops Help Clean the Water in Farm Country?

Civil Eats

It works as both a cover crop and forage for the cattle, and it’s helping Bedtka build up organic matter in his soil. Corn requires lots of nitrogen, and it’s by far the most commonly used fertilizer in the United States. Iowa farmers, for example, apply it on 87 percent of their fields at a rate of 149 pounds per acre.

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A Satellite Image Exposes the ‘Bare Facts’ About Conventional Ag

UnderstandingAg

There's 270 acres inside that red boundary (so consider that when determining perspective and the percentage of area-wide coverage comparatively. The green area bounded by the red line is less than half a section, and the full image comprises about 81 sections for a total of 52,000 acres.

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Regenerative Gardening, No-Till Winter Cover Crop Strategies

UnderstandingAg

Identifying Opportunities and Planning Successful cover cropping starts with a strong crop plan and requires additional planning around cash-crop termination and no-till seeding methods. Flail mow and direct seed with a grain drill – This is the best method in a larger-scale commercial garden (1+ acre).

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From Symptoms to Solutions: Addressing the Underlying Causes of Water Quality Degradation – Part 4

UnderstandingAg

High-salt fertilizers add insult to injury by inhibiting soil biology and creating osmotic stress in plants. Fall application of nutrients for a cash crop the following year makes no sense from a plant nutrition standpoint. Living ground cover is especially critical on acres receiving manure from confinement operations.

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Black Earth: A Family’s Journey from Enslavement to Reclamation

Civil Eats

Patrick Brown, who was named North Carolinas Small Farmer of the Year by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University this year, grows almost 200 acres of industrial hemp for both oil and fiber, and 11 acres and several greenhouses of vegetablesbeets, kale, radishes, peppers, okra, and bok choy.

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California Agriculture Could Use an Ancient History Lesson

The Equation

A fertile land can be a fertile civilization The swath of land between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in Mesopotamia was one of the most fertile lands known to humans, as was the riparian land of the Nile River in Ancient Egypt. Excessive fertilization has polluted aquifers with nitrates.

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High Tunnel Soil Management for Season Extension

ATTRA

By Chris Lent, NCAT Agriculture Specialist When I began to see how unique the growing conditions in my high tunnel are compared to open-field growing, I started to think differently about how to maintain soil health and manage soil fertility for high tunnel growing and season extension. These strategies start with soil testing.

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