This panel discusses the need for coordinating soil health data collection efforts. Innovations in soil health data can help catalyze innovations in healthy soil policy at the state and federal level. Unfortunately, soil health data are often siloed and there is currently limited coordination between public and private sector soil health efforts. This lack of coordination often ends up burdening farmers and ranchers with the arduous role of collecting and reporting different kinds of data for those public and private efforts.

This week’s podcast, sponsored by NewLeaf Symbiotics, features John Wallace, Assistant Professor, Weed Science, Penn State University. Wallace will discuss why interseeding might be better than fall cover crop establishment, cover crop establishment rates with interseeding, interseeding best management practices, and more.

When the winter rains come to Napa Valley, soil erosion is at the top of many viticulturists’ minds. Terracing and other structural changes to the terroir are largely a mitigation method of the past, with many vineyards planting the grassy patches between their rows with mustards, legumes, and grasses as cover crops. Read more in this article from the Napa Valley Register.

This week’s podcast, sponsored by NewLeaf Symbiotics, features Dennis Burns, AgCenter Agent and Research Coordinator with Louisiana State University. Burns will discuss why 60-inch cotton is gaining interest, an experiment with corn, soybeans, and cotton in a 60-inch bed, how adding cover crops to 60-inch cotton had an impact, and more.

Greater yields and improved soil health, with an eye on sustainable farming practices. That’s what researchers at the University of Guelph are looking for in a long-term cover cropping research project currently underway. Read more in this article from Guelph Today.

This week’s podcast, sponsored by NewLeaf Symbiotics, features Daniel Kaiser, Nutrient Management Specialist, University of Minnesota Extension. Kaiser will discuss soil pH values for both corn and soybeans, the range of pH values for optimum crop performance, how growers can adjust their soil pH, and more.

Fall is an excellent time to take soil tests since the summer crops are off and the cover crops are small enough to still walk through the fields. Soil tests have an important role in determining your soil fertility program. Read more in this article from the Frederick News Post.

The largest terrestrial carbon sink on earth is the planet’s soil. One of the fears that many scientists have is that a warming planet will liberate significant portions of the soil’s carbon, turning it into carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, and so further accelerate the pace of planetary warming. One of the key players in this story is the microbe: invisible, and yet the predominant form of life on earth. Read more in this article from the University of Massachusetts.

Emerging carbon markets have the potential to supplement farm and ranch income. However, there are many unknowns, and as with any other new market, carbon credit programs can be high risk. Read more in this article from Texas Farm Bureau.