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You will just keep experiencing the same symptoms – surface crusting, ruts, wet spots, stunted growth, lost yield, and many others – until you address the underlying cause of the problem, which is poor aggregate formation and the lack of living roots. We want a mix of both warm- and cool-season cashcrops and cover crops in the rotation.
Overapplying readily available N can also interfere with the uptake of other nutrients and lead to yield drag and profit loss, just as underapplying can. Fall application of nutrients for a cashcrop the following year makes no sense from a plant nutrition standpoint. Most N demand is in midsummer. This is nonsense.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in regenerative agriculture, a holistic approach to farming that seeks to restore and revitalize the land while improving cropyields and overall farm profitability. This means increased cropyields and reduced inputs like fertilizers and pesticides.
Salts from added compost, manure, or fertilizers can build up in the rain-free environment of a tunnel and accumulate near the soil surface, affecting crop growth. And because tunnel crops are entirely dependent on irrigation water, elevated alkalinity, iron, sodium, or chloride in the water can cause problems in the soil, as well.
In addition, large concentrated animal feeding operations, which have become more prevalent there in recent years, add to the problem by disposing millions of gallons of nitrogen-rich liquid manure. The cost can be prohibitive, and it can be tricky to fit them into a conventional row-cropping system.
Prairie strips or other noncrop strips along fields also offer refugia for beneficial species or, depending on species used, can act as trap crops that lure pests away from a cashcrop. Rotating crops also significantly reduces pests and diseases.
Healthy soil can mean increased yields (and profits) as well as fewer inputs like fertilizer or pesticides. One common method is the traditional or sequential crop rotation, where different crops are grown in a planned sequence over a period of years. Soil health is a holistic measure of soil function.
Understanding your soil (loamy, clay, etc), the PH, and the other trace nutrients that are available in your soil is vital to growing healthy crops. Growth and Yield: Many types of grass are perennials and have regrowth ability. Combining different hay types, such as grass-legume mixes, can enhance forage quality and yield.
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