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Across Farm Country, Fertilizer Pollution Impacts Not Just Health, but Water Costs, Too

Civil Eats

Tesdell explained that when his European ancestors settled in the Midwest, they plowed the prairie and switched from deeply rooted perennial plants to shallow-rooted annual crops like wheat, oats, and corn instead. This “leaky system” refers to what is not absorbed by the crops on the field, most dangerously, in this case, fertilizer. “It’s

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Illinois Dust Storm Disaster Is a Warning for Agriculture

The Equation

As climate change continues and farming areas get hotter and drier—as expected in the Southern Great Plains and Southwest—erosion could increasingly take the form of dust storms when bone-dry fields are plowed. Fertilizer runoff can also affect urban communities downstream. All the time.

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Living Mulch Cover Cropping for Gardens and Small Farms: Managing an “organic matter” system

ATTRA

He would let the cover crop grow and overwinter and then plow down the following spring for green manure. Whereas at one time she advocated organic approaches and specific practices to deal with singular issues with pests or crop fertility, she now fosters a system based on ecological farm design.

Crop 79
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Regenerative Agriculture: A Strategic Approach for Farming

Cropaia

This means increased crop yields and reduced inputs like fertilizers and pesticides. Cost savings : Regenerative farming often reduces the need for expensive inputs like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. By building fertile, self-sustaining soil, farmers can cut costs significantly.

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

Civil Eats

He was paid to plant it by the Olmsted County Groundwater Protection and Soil Health Program , a local effort that seeks to reduce overall fertilizer use by building soil—therefore cutting down on the nutrients that enter waterways—while helping farmers save money.

Crop 137
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Whose Farm Is More Sustainable? Calculating Farm Sustainability.

DTN

fertilizer application, irrigation, machinery use, pesticide application) and the sources of carbon sequestration (e.g., Trackable events include plowing, minimum-till cultivation, crop rotation, crop type, cover crop presence, irrigation events, harvest date, and crop residue presence. reduced tillage, cover crops, treed acres).

Farming 98
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Can Cover Cropping Heal Abused Soil? A Mad Farm Reflection

ATTRA

Darker soils, better water infiltration, less fertilizer. year after year, usually with a non-cover fallow, intensive moldboard plowing, and the additions of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. To practice what I suggest others do — plant, observe, and adapt. Once again, the unintended consequences of progress.

Crop 52