Can manure sustain soils?
Organic matter is a small but crucial portion of soil. If we can maintain a soil’s organic matter levels, we have gone a long way in maintaining soil health and function. Can manure do this? Can manure sustain soils?
Andrew McGuire
Can Manure Supply Nitrogen and Phosphorus to Agriculture?
Manure, whether fresh, old, or composted, is often declared to be a key component of sustainable agriculture. In countless trials, researchers have found multiple benefits of manure application (Haynes and Naidu 1998), and so manure use is promoted as a solution in discussions of sustainable agriculture topics including: soil fertility, soil health, organic farming, regenerative farming, carbon sequestration, and renewable resources. However, I have questions…
Cover crop best bet is monoculture, not mix
Can you see 17 species in this cover crop mix? Photo: A. McGuire. Cover crops are great. If I thought I could get away with it, I would just grow cover crops in my garden.…
Comparing effects of herbicides, fertilizers, and tillage on the soil
Is this better than an herbicide for the soil? Photo: United Soybean Board. In a past post, I argued for the use of an herbicide instead of tillage to kill a soil-building cover crop. My…
Crop rotation: In praise of deliberate, sequenced disruption of natural systems
For years, researchers have been looking to polycultures, biodiversity in space, as a way to improve agriculture (Trenbath 1974; Tilman et al. 1997; Cardinale et al. 2011; Finney and Kaye 2016). Behind this research is…
The New Urban Indoor Industrial Agriculture… but Why?
Vertical farm crop wall demonstration project. Where is the soil?Photo: State Dept. via Flickr cc There is a new style of urban agriculture appearing around the world. The efforts differ in details, but they all…
The Fallout of October Rains in the Desert
Photo: C. Chene via Flickr cc. Here in the Columbia Basin, something extraordinary has happened; it rained a lot in October. Although not technically a desert, we are normally desert-like from June-October. Not this year.…
Defending the Proper Use of Monoculture
Monoculture of dry edible beans. Photo: A. McGuire. Many bloggers have it wrong, Wikipedia had it wrong, and when I found that Agronomy Journal got it wrong, I was compelled to write on the topic…
The Benefits of Combining Organic and Synthetic Nitrogen Sources
Dan Sullivan, OSU soil scientist, caught my attention during his presentation at the 2014 Building Soils for Better Crops workshop. Speaking about organic amendments and how to use them for both building soils and for…
Organic Farming Provides Ecosystem Service and Solves Weed Problems
In nearly all surveys of organic farmers their top priority for research is weed control. Weeds are a tough problem to solve, but with creativity and spunk, researchers in Spain have done it! In their…