Bringing Soil Back to Life
One-quarter to one-third of all arable land on Earth has been taken out of production due to soil degradation. Locations like Syria and Libya were once verdant pockets of food production, but thousands of years of agricultural use has eroded soil to the point of desertification. “Soil degradation is not a new problem,” David Montgomery told attendees at the recent Conservation Cropping seminars. “It is happening everywhere.” The Erosion of Civilizations A geologist and professor of earth sciences at Washington State University, Montgomery has researched the role soil erosion and degradation played in the rise and fall of nations. [...]
Benchmarking Soybeans in Illinois
U.S. soybean yields have been trending upwards and Illinois soybean yields are running 6.5 bu/A above the trendline, according to the University of Illinois FarmDoc website. In the Illinois Soybean Associations Yield Challenge we have seen yields steadily increase over the past decade. In the early years most of yields were in the 50- to 70-bushel range. Today we see most entries in the 80- and 90-bushel range and a number over 100 bushels. The reasons for these dramatic increases have mainly to do with adoption of new best management practices and early planting, along with improvements in genetics [...]
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