Our most recently published case study on resilience to climate change describes Brenda and Tony Richards’ family cow-calf operation in Murphy, Idaho. Over the last few years at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural…
Soil health management can be distilled to two principles: Maximize photosynthesis & minimize tillage. These are principles; they do not tell you what practices you should use but rather, what the practices you choose to implement should provide…
Biochar has potential to draw down atmospheric carbon when applied to agricultural soils (as discussed in my previous article on this topic). There is currently not a robust way for farmers…
How much is enough soil organic matter? “The more, the better” is often the assumed answer, or at least as much as the native soil had before crops were grown. There are a few papers…
In a recent study, Jim Amonette at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources developed an improved method to estimate the technical potential for biochar…
One of regenerative agriculture’s extraordinary claims is that it can drastically reduce or even eliminate nutrient inputs, fertilizers. How is this possible? The go-to explanation is often “soil biology” – revved up soil biology makes nutrients available that plants can’t normally access. As it often the case, there is a bit of truth here. Regenerative ag can reduce inputs, and soil biology is involved along with other natural processes, but the whole truth may be much more ordinary.
Ranchers already manage multiple risks—including those related to economics, production, the environment, and weather. Climate change represents an added risk, but one that is challenging to manage because impacts are uncertain, variable over space and…
My name is Daizy Dehnke, and I’m a sophomore majoring in Organic and sustainable agriculture at WSU. For some important background context, I don’t have any experience regarding agriculture. I’ve helped tend a small garden of peas and potatoes at my family’s home, but I have yet to work for a farm or be part of any agricultural organizations. This has been a newfound interest that h…
When I explained Tilth to my friends and family, I was forced to truly consider what Tilth meant to me and how it compared with the true definition. Tilth in my own definition meant the upkeep and sustainable maintenance of soil. In comparison to the actual definition, Tilth is the condition of tilled soil in respect to the suitab…
I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity by the CSANR to travel to Yakima and attend the annual Tilth Conference 2019 with some fellow students from Washington State University. As…
