By Suzanne Armstrong
This year has been declared the International Year of Soils by the United Nations. This is the second of three commentaries highlighting speakers from the Soil Health Day I recently attended organized by agricultural consultant Ruth Knight. I previously discussed the important relationship between living plants and soil life, as presented by Dr. Christine Jones, visiting from Australia. Next week will examine innovative methods of working with cover crops. All the speakers were keenly interested in using no-till and cover crops to improve soil while at the same time increasing farm profitability. The methods they described increase yields and decrease the need for many farm inputs, thus building soil and also improving the bottom line.
Two speakers from Pennsylvania, Gerald Troisi and his daughter Sarah Troisi, spoke about their approach to soil health. Again, relationships are key. Gerald stressed the importance of well managed animals for soil health. Sarah directly connected soil health to the production of nutrient dense food.
As a crop advisor, Gerald Troisi has found the Haney soil test helpful in getting maximum benefit from inputs and for suggesting programs to regenerate soils. Like the other speakers throughout the day, he advocated the benefits of no-till in conjunction with cover crops, emphasizing the benefits of continuous cover and crop diversity.
He also emphasized the important relationship between animals and land. “Animals and land are one,” he said. He regaled the farming audience with some examples of human folly, both ancient and modern, that resulted in devastation of soils from removing key animals from the landscape. Bringing the conversation into the present, he contrasted the example of two farms in his jurisdiction. While both had dairy herds, management methods made a significant difference to the benefits that resulted in the soil quality on each farm.
Sarah Troisi was interested in another test of soil quality, but wasn’t testing the soil itself. Instead she gave a demonstration of the Brix test, using a refractometer. She uses it to test the nutrient density of the plants and food that come out of the soil. She directly connected the health of the soil to the nutrient density of plants, especially food plants, as the foundation for our own human health as eaters.
Gerald Troisi argued that animals can be a significant benefit to land and soil when nutrients and grazing are managed well with no-till and cover crop methods. Healthy soil makes for nutrient dense food, which, as Sarah Troisi emphasized, is foundational to our human health as eaters. When farmers and eaters get the most benefit from the resources on our farms, farms are more efficient and more profitable.
Source: CFFO