Soil Health Science

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Videos

The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/national/home/) 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 the various soil micro-organisms, and how by taking care of the micro-organisms, they can increase their crop yields; prevent flooding in their fields when it rains; eradicate soil compaction; prevent crop disease and pest attacks; etc.

 1.  The Science of Soil Health: Introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHOF6NfLm7M&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=1

2.   The Science of Soil Health: Getting a Handle on Mineralizable Nitrogen in Soils

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB1nmzGt_u8&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=2

3.  The Science of Soil Health: Changing The Way We Think About Soil Microbes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyKfpOso8q8&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=3

4.  The Science of Soil Health: What Happens When You Till?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azb0So8M50Q&index=4&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

5.  The Science of Soil Health: Cover Crops and Moisture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohX1jIlH_kI&index=5&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

6.  The Science of Soil Health: Simulating Rainfall on Pastures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dL_79O8OiQ&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=6

7.  The Science of Soil Health: Understanding the Value of Legumes and Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yRYdvEzXag&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=7

8.  The Science of Soil Health: Using Cover Crops to Soak up Nutrients for the Next Crop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVf2yF19tx8&index=8&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

9.  The Science of Soil Health: Compaction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTUVRieYoZ8&index=9&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

10.  The Science of Soil Health: Night Crawlers and Soil Water Flow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcpXeSRGdXA&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=10

11.  The Science of Soil Health: Soil Feeds Plants, and Vice Versa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgy9ArBpNiI&index=11&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

12.  The Science of Soil Health: Fighting Plant Disease with Microbes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgeBzKLR1I&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=12

13.  The Science of Soil Health: Without Carrot or Stick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjd0NQ6Hc88&index=13&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

14.  The Science of Soil Health: The Weil Brassica Research Team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o66y9FbiC4k&index=14&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

15.   The Science of Soil Health: Precision Cover Cropping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06N63U-RAl0&index=15&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

16.  The Science of Soil Health: Dynamic Cropping Systems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvScUApslps&index=16&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

17.  The Science of Soil Health: Systems in Agroecology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpMr1-STc38&index=17&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

18.   The Science of Soil Health: Natural Systems and Weeds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDLkAUYRAnI&index=18&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

19.  The Science of Soil Health: A Short Field Trip with Dr. Beck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wSC7arMY9M&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=19

20.  The Science of Soil Health: Using Insects to Manage Pests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPWMxCeAHSw&index=20&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

21.  The Science of Soil Health: Mimicking Nature in the Lab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx1qK5sPgTM&index=21&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

22.  Researcher’s “soil trek” concludes in final season of The Science of Soil Health

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alqdwPixcUQ&index=22&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

23.  The Science of Soil Health: Cycle, Re-cycle, Repeat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f1NNbi3JsY&index=23&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

24.  The Science of Soil Health: Nature’s Way of Extracting Minerals from Soil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7id24FKSqWs&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=24

25.  The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzfFFNG5mnQ&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=25

26.  The Science of Soil Health: Going Deeper, Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo6zvBBROL0&index=26&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

27.  The Science of Soil Health: Dynamic Soil Properties

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZLde2famp8&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=27

28.  The Science of Soil Health: Finale, Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJdh5Mcg5_E&index=28&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

29.  Chapter 1 – Bringing the Science of Soil Health Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGxr9N7FjkQ&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=29

30.  Chapter 2 – Understanding the Basics: Buz’s ‘Fab-Five Facts of Healthy Soil’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BTW28oeKJw&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=30

31.  Chapter 3 – Minimize Disturbance, or “Do Not Disturb!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD5iSEn3U88&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=31

32.  Chapter 4 – The Great Cover Up: How Nature Protects and Enriches the Soil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxZiLkgUYAM&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=32

33.  Chapter 5 – Keep a Live Root in the Soil, or “A Radicle Idea”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qodG4MJeQvQ&index=33&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0

34.  Chapter 6 – Mix it Up! Managing for Diversity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxRzyoA5UR0&list=PL4J8PxoprpGa3wFYSXFu-BW_mMatleIt0&index=34