As we have said so often—production agriculture and environmental protection really can go hand in hand. If we take care of the worms, (and with them the rest of the microbial community) they really can help save the day.

Agricultural producers often base their land management decisions on the living things they can see above the ground – crops, livestock, forage, weeds, insects, wildlife, etc. However, new research is showing they should also consider life found in the soil.

In this week's edition of the Cover Crop Strategies podcast, brought to you by La Crosse Seed, we’re headed to Eastern IA, for a conversation about all things cover crops with Ryan Gibbs of Gibbsfield Farms.  Ryan, and his wife Kristy, specialize in no-till cover crop and conservation farming practices.

Dan Kittredge, founder and executive director: Bionutrient Food Association's Real Food Campaign talks about ways the market farmer can take advantage of soil health innovations. This was a far-reaching exploration of agriculture’s sustainable future: on-farm practices, soil biology, carbon markets, and public policy.

In this video from the National Center for Appropriate Technology, hear from experts on soil carbon markets as they discuss how the agriculture industry can be more sustainable in the future, on-farm practices and soil biology, and carbon markets and public policy.

Healthy soil is essential to agriculture, but it can be tricky to adequately assess soil health test results, which are influenced by biology, chemistry, fertility, time of sampling, timing of farming and other variables. That’s why the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) is developing a user-friendly, online tool to help farmers and agronomists easily interpret their soil health test results and convert them into an action plan. Read more in this article from the Iowa Soybean Association.

Unfortunately there are some years when fields just don't get planted to a cash crop. But this can open up an opportunity to plant a wide range of species of cover crops to make soils more productive in the future, says Steve Groff. (Courtesy of Cover Crop Innovators)