Soil Fertility Secrets For Maximum Production

Soil fertility is essential in increasing yields and profitability while supporting sustainable agriculture production. We discuss the value of investing in an organic soil health program which includes organic amendments, cover crops, crop rotation, conservation tillage practices, integrated nutrient management (INM), and pH management strategies.

Plants require various sources of nourishment – some mobile and others immobile. The key is keeping these immobile nutrients close to the roots for maximum efficiency.

1. Add Organic Matter

Soil organic matter plays an integral part in supporting soil processes and plant growth, playing an especially crucial part in global and regional cycles such as nitrogen cycling.

Soils contain layers known as “horizons.” At the surface is topsoil, usually dark in color with less clay content than subsoil – receiving greater climate influence than its lower layer – known as the A horizon where maximum soil organic accumulation takes place.

Addition of organic material to soil increases A horizons, which improve its ability to retain nutrients. This occurs because the humus fraction of organic matter can hold onto positively charged ions found in clay particles; thus preventing leaching during rainstorms.

An increased presence of organic matter in soil can also help improve its structure, leading to enhanced aggregation and permeability, thus decreasing erosion, runoff, while creating an ideal environment for microorganisms. One effective strategy for building up this organic matter is through reduced tillage as this reduces carbon loss from soil while delaying decomposition of its organic matter content.

2. Keep Irrigation to a Minimum

Soil fertility depends on a complex web of organic matter, structure, pH and microbial life to thrive, but when this balance is interrupted by factors like topography or agricultural practices or irrigation, the results can be disastrous. One key way to protect and enhance soil health is keeping irrigation flows as low as possible.

Overwatering damages soil structure, reduces rooting depth and increases disease, as well as diminishing drought resistance. To maximize efficiency of irrigation water usage and save resources, irrigation should follow ET or crop water requirements.

An optimal irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer application strategy must simultaneously address soil organic matter, total salt, nitrogen and pH targets while meeting high fertility levels. We implemented this ideal strategy using a 6-hidden layer preference neural network. For comparison purposes, we compared its performance against that of support vector regression, linear kernel functions as well as traditional back propagation neural networks.

As planting season arrives, now is an opportune moment to take advantage of lower crop prices and build your soil’s nutrient reserves through an in-depth fertility program. By conducting proper soil tests and creating an appropriate plan, you’ll soon be on your way to reaching maximum yields and maintaining a solid bottom line this year.

3. Keep Soil Moisture Levels High

Soil moisture levels are essential to plant health; too little results in poor yield while too much can lead to root disease and wasted water. Experienced farmers can quickly assess the moisture level in their crop’s root zone with remarkable accuracy by simply feeling and looking at it; however, for systematic monitoring across an entire root zone and use of this data for irrigation decisions requires measurement devices, computers and networked communication equipment.

Soils are complex mixtures of inorganic salts, air, water and organic matter that come together in fertile soils to provide all the essential nutrients for healthy crops. Maintaining high soil moisture levels enables plants to access these essential nutrients easily and increase yields.

Soil fertility depends on many factors, including topography, climate conditions, human activities and management practices. Cultivation practices including crops, land-use patterns and agricultural practices such as tillage, grazing and irrigation can either improve or degrade soil fertility; deforestation reduces organic inputs which accelerates depletion of essential nutrients while increasing erosion; excessive use of fertilizers or pesticides also degrade soil fertility while increasing climate risks such as drought, floods, wildfires or heatwaves – hence why implementing an efficient steady soil moisture strategy can significantly postpone signal emergence related to GHG-induced warming induced warming effects associated with climate risks caused by GHG warming due to global warming effects from GHG emissions while increasing soil moisture content can significantly postpone signal emergence associated with GHG warming impacts that will accompany GHG-induced warming and associated climate risks over time.

4. Keep Tillage to a Minimum

Soil fertility is a complex process, dependent on many variables including soil type and climate conditions. Fertilizer is defined as providing plant nutrients in sufficient amounts and form for stable crop yields year after year, as well as protecting living organisms against diseases or pests.

Fertile soil is comprised of both macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) and micronutrients, both essential elements in terms of crop production but also helping preserve its integrity, improve water infiltration rates and carbon storage capabilities. Furthermore, such elements also facilitate biological processes which recycle and reuse nutrients back into the environment.

Textured soils such as loams and sandy loams are ideal for growing crops; however, their texture can vary across fields or even within individual fields.

Keep tillage to a minimum to improve soil fertility by limiting organic matter breakdown and nutrient cycling, thus improving soil health. However, when making fertilizer applications it’s essential to consider how much tillage has taken place as excessive tillage can result in significant losses of soil carbon and phosphorus while increasing nitrogen and phosphorus needs due to this reduction in organic matter levels.

5. Keep Nutrients in the Soil

As soil fertility increases, its benefits ripple throughout other aspects of crop health and production. Soluble calcium strengthens plant cell walls while nitrogen fuels metabolic functions that promote growth while mitigating environmental stresses and pests. With world population expected to surge 70-100% by 2050, we must reclaim and protect our precious soils – this means shifting to diets rich in nutrient-efficient diets as well as intensification techniques to restore soil fertility, stability and resilience while strengthening resilience against global change.

Soil nutrients are finite resources, and are quickly lost from an ecosystem through intensive farming practices. Plant harvest transports these resources out, with insufficient nutrient returns coming back through plants or livestock to sustain healthy soils. Degradation and depletion accelerate when we interfere with natural balances for organic matter, soil structure, nutrients supply, pH balance and microbial life in an ecosystem.

Start the journey toward healthy soil by beginning with a comprehensive 4R Nutrient Stewardship program utilizing Oceanic and SeaPhos products to maintain fertile, functioning soil. Your test results should then be combined with this comprehensive approach that ensures appropriate source, rate, timing, and placement of fertilizer to maximize crop growth and yield potential. When planting season arrives, get your fields prepared to maximize success using Oceanic and SeaPhos to build strong nutrient banks that will support high-yield crops for years to come.

6. Add Fertilizer at the Right Time

Accurate fertilizer applications depend upon knowing exactly when and what nutrients are required, and conducting a soil test can provide this insight. Based on the results, an accurate fertilizer application plan can then be created using this information.

Fertile soil contains all of the major elements necessary for plant growth – nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in sufficient amounts for healthy plant growth. It also boasts organic matter, has a pH range between 6-7 and adequate water availability.

Organic material rich with nutrients decomposes in soil to release essential elements into solution; this process is called mineralization. However, when these elements become tied in microbial biomass they cannot be released and thus become unavailable to plants; this condition is known as immobilization.

Fertilizers are one of the primary tools a farmer has at their disposal for increasing crop yield, but amending the soil should never replace sound agronomic management practices such as crop rotations, selection of adapted varieties, tillage, cover crops and weed control. Otherwise, using the Four R’s of Nutrient Stewardship will minimize risks of nutrient loss while simultaneously decreasing additional input costs.

7. Don’t Over-Nitrate

Farm soil conditions dictate both crop quality and quantity, so effective nutrient management programs must include 4Rs principles – right source, right rate, right time and right place – to optimize yield potential and ensure maximum harvest potential. However, many factors influence soil health and fertility. Parent material and climate have an enormous influence on soil nutrients; tillage, cropping and deforestation alter microbial activity and physical properties; deforestation reduces organic matter inputs, accelerates erosion rates and disrupts nutrient cycling cycles – when these natural and human influences erode soil fertility, the results can be devastating for humanity as a whole. Maintaining soil health and fertility requires care, wisdom and stewardship by all those involved – the consequences can be immense!