The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (Click here) has created a series of short videos about the science of soil health. These videos are shown below.
Farmers need to understand some soil biology so that they understand how their soil works, and why some traditional farming systems, such as ploughing (tilling) and using chemical fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides, are not in their financial interests; and why they should be replaced by conservation agriculture techniques, such as cover cropping, intercropping, and mulching.
90% of soil functions are carried out by soil micro-organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and micro-arthropods. Because farmers often do not know about the soil micro-organisms, they unintentionally and unknowingly destroy the very source of their potential wealth. The knowledge in these videos will enable farmers to understand the roles of various soil microorganisms and how caring for them can increase crop yields, prevent flooding in their fields during rain, reduce soil compaction, and prevent crop diseases and pest attacks.
1. The Science of Soil Health: Introduction. Click here.
2. The Science of Soil Health: Getting a Handle on Mineralizable Nitrogen in Soils. Click here.
3. The Science of Soil Health: Changing The Way We Think About Soil Microbes. Click here.
4. The Science of Soil Health: What Happens When You Till? Click here.
5. The Science of Soil Health: Cover Crops and Moisture. Click here.
6. The Science of Soil Health: Simulating Rainfall on Pastures. Click here.
7. The Science of Soil Health: Understanding the Value of Legumes and Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes. Click here.
8. The Science of Soil Health: Using Cover Crops to Soak up Nutrients for the Next Crop. Click here.
9. The Science of Soil Health: Compaction. Click here.
10. The Science of Soil Health: Night Crawlers and Soil Water Flow. Click here.
11. The Science of Soil Health: Soil Feeds Plant. Click here.
12. The Science of Soil Health: Fighting Plant Disease with Microbes. Click here.
13. The Science of Soil Health: Without Carrot or Stick Click here.
14. The Science of Soil Health: The Weil Brassica Research Team. Click here.
15. The Science of Soil Health: Precision Cover Cropping. Click here.
16. The Science of Soil Health: Dynamic Cropping Systems. Click here.
17. The Science of Soil Health: Systems in Agroecology. Click here.
18. The Science of Soil Health: Natural Systems and Weeds. Click here.
19. The Science of Soil Health: A Short Field Trip with Dr. Beck. Click here.
20. The Science of Soil Health: Using Insects to Manage Pests. Click here.
21. The Science of Soil Health: Mimicking Nature in the Lab. Click here.
22. Researcher’s “soil trek” concludes in final season of The Science of Soil Health. Click here.
23. The Science of Soil Health: Cycle, Re-cycle, Repeat. Click here.
24. The Science of Soil Health: Nature’s Way of Extracting Minerals from Soil. Click here.
25. The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper. Click here.
26. The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper, Part 2. Click here.
27. The Science of Soil Health: Dynamic Soil Properties. Click here.
28. The Science of Soil Health: Finale, Part 1. Click here.
29. Chapter 1 – Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home. Click here.
30. Chapter 2 – Understanding the Basics: Buz’s ‘Fab-Five Facts of Healthy Soil’. Click here.
31. Chapter 3 – Minimize Disturbance, or “Do Not Disturb!” Click here.
32. Chapter 4 – The Great Cover Up: How Nature Protects and Enriches the Soil. Click here.
33. Chapter 5 – Keep a Live Root in the Soil, or “A Radicle Idea”. Click here.
34. Chapter 6 – Mix it Up! Managing for Diversity. Click here.
