Increasing soil organic matter is difficult. How difficult?
Here are the numbers:
To increase SOM 1%โก๏ธ1.1% (=11 tons in top 6"), with 1%/yr loss, requires ~6.7 tons/ac biomass = 223 corn or 239 bu/ac wheat crops.
See my calculations, do your own...https://t.co/L2NZzpIXg8
Wow, I didn't realize that inter-seeding was a thing back then. Stumbling onto historical research on green manure crops is what got me interested in cover crops. I realized we left a lot of tools behind in the haste to scale up agriculture
Our West Point office came across this photo from 1960. The caption says, "... (farmer) drills in a cover crop of rye and vetch in late August each year. Drill was built in farm shop. This cropping system has been used for the past 7 years. Yields have increased each year.โ #TBT
#DYK -> The #bacteria & #organisms found in #healthysoil are also found in the human gut. Consuming food grown in healthy soil can contribute to our own long-term health by maintaining a balance of vital microbes.
Retweet to spread the word about the importance of #soilhealth !