4th GenerationFarmer - 1/3/2026 15:39

Interesting topic.Went to make a new batch of popcorn and realized I was out. Now I gotta go shopping and get some. To answer your question, I highly doubt you will get everyone to collectively agree on a definition of mining the soil.

Asking this question is akin to asking which brand of equipment is best, which pickup is best, which soil test is best, which soil testing lab is best, which soil test extraction fluid is best, which form of N is best, which fertilizer rec is best, ect.

People who throw around the terms mining the soil and snake oil all the time are the ignorant folks that don’t want to get off of their indoctrination of XX pounds of nutrients in = X bushels of yield with no other considerations from the rest of the growing enviroment. They blindly follow the book and even pay to get indoctrinated to the books way. They are people that feel threatened by those of us that have been awakened out of the XX nutrients in = X yield out and found different ways to increase our ROI and increase soil productivity.

“Extra P &K in the soil is like money in the bank” it’s amazing how farmers will eat up this line of thinking and just throw $$$ at this soil bank. While not paying attention, or having any clue, as to how much of this “banked” money is going down the river from the soil not being able to hold it and it being leached out by water. They sure would scream and holler if the $$ they put in a local bank just started flowing out of their account never to be seen again because the bank couldn’t hold it.

Soil tests weren’t designed to save the grower money, it was designed to protect and make the fertilizer company’s money.

Hopefully this doesn’t derail your thread easymoney.