This podcast, sponsored by Yetter Equipment, features an interview with Jeff Vetsch, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Southern Research & Outreach Center in Waseca, Minn., and Anna Cates, Minnesota State Soil Health Specialist.

Soil health has been defined as “the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain the quality of air and water environments, and promote plant, animal, and human health.” The challenge with this poetic definition is that, while it does describe the functional abilities of soil, it does not provide quantifiable values or measurements. Read more in this article from the Alberta Farm Express.

As attention on water quality, sustainability, farm income levels, and rural quality of life grows every year, those of us who work in the soil and water conservation arena often wonder what will be required to get the majority of landowners to adopt even the most basic soil health practices. We live in the most altered landscape in the United States, we have nearly the smallest amount of forests and public lands of any state, and we have only half of the topsoil we had in the 1860s. Read more in this article from the Globe Gazette (Mason City, IA).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest $56 million this year to help agricultural producers improve water quality in more than 300 high-priority watersheds across the country. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is continuing two of its successful landscape-level water quality efforts, the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) and National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). Find out more in this article from Hoosier Ag Today.

Al Schafbuch said Iowa farmers are moving too slowly in adopting conservation practices that would help improve the quality of the state's rivers, streams and lakes. With only about 7% of Iowa farmland planted in cover crops, "it will take 100 years to get this done," Schafbuch said. "We can't wait 100 years."

Cover crops protect soil and water quality and often provide a valuable source of livestock feed. However, not much research has been done regarding the value and viability of using cover crops for forage. A new study supported by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center and Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture evaluated the use of cover crops to get a better understanding of its forage yield and quality, cattle performance, and soil health. Find out more in this article by Michaela King with Hay & Forage Grower.