Living Lab-Ontario: Making a Conservation Farming System Work

Aug 26, 2022

For Henry Denotter “it is all about the water”. Henry will discuss his no-till practices, cropping systems and equipment modifications that he uses to reduce water quality impacts and improve his soil health and crop yields. Henry will be joined by researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the ONFARM project who will share results of the various studies conducted on his farm.

Learn how Henry is improving soil health, reducing water quality impacts and increasing biodiversity on his farm. Henry will discuss his tillage methods and crop rotations along with his equipment modifications. Researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Living Lab Ontario project and the ONFARM project will share water quality and field trial results. Researchers will take us below the soil surface and explain what is going on below the field in the soil pit.

Source : Ontario Soil Crop

Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.