What is soil organic carbon (SOC), and why does it matter?
SOC influences soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties, making it one of the most important factors in soil and crop health.
No-till agriculture has been gaining a lot of popularity in the past decade. But SOC and tillage have a complicated relationship. The pros and cons of tillage must be weighed from a holistic viewpoint.
You get what you give. Chemical fertilizers and organic amendments (crop residue, straw, manure, etc.) have distinct impacts on SOC and other soil properties.
They say a field's SOC decreases the longer conventional farming is practiced there. So wouldn't planting more crops per year deplete the soil faster? It depends.
Mixing It Up: Cropping Intensity
Cover cropping at Granton Vineyard (fava beans)
Copyright of Stefano Lubiana (https://www.flickr.com/photos/stefano_lubiana_wines/8102963346/in/photostream/)
Used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 (CC BY 2.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)
Not property of Hope Lackey or Wix.com
Edited for aspect ratio (custom to square).
UPCOMING EVENTS
01
04 / 28/ 2018
Environmental Studies at CofI: Senior colloquium
02
04 / 28 / 2018
13th Annual SRC at CofI
03
TBA