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Seymour, IL | In the article I saw linked, I did not see anything amiss or unable to be defended by the author
I had worked extensively with soil health at a earlier point in my career. In many ways it is a throwback to what used to be termed "complex crop rotations" in my agronomy classes in college.
One great weakness I see in the whole regenerative discussion is the lack of replicability and trials. Where are the studies that say if you use this crop, mix, rotation, etc. you will achieve this outcome with this probability? Also, how is it applied across different farm types (row crop intensive midwest, high clay soils in the south, vegetable production areas on the coasts...)?
The one place where these systems struggled from the get go was economically. The idea that you can make these changes over 2, 5, 10 years when your typical farm lease was an annual lease makes it hard to adopt. One may be able to make changes discussed if the land was owned, but could be very difficult for rental operations.
When I was in Extension 40 years ago, there was great concern with soil tests and having farms that were being mined. That concern has not changed, if anything become more heightened as input costs have climbed.
I believe the acceptance of a full regenrative system will be easier when the research data is widely available to support it. (and yes, I have seen some of the work from Dwayne Beck at Dakota Lake)
If you have data or links that could be shared on the topic, that would be of interest.
Have a great day
bryon | |
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Andrew McGuire Washington State
