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West Central Indiana | Some old heads around here consider adding wheat/dc beans in the crop rotation “mining the farm”. I’ve asked a couple why they think that but none could really give a reason why they think it’s bad for the soil.
My description of mining a farm is when a farm hasn’t seen any form of fertilizer for many crop years. Could be a number of reasons for it. Some just plant soybeans for many years, rent too high, they know they’re not keeping the farm. Usually see it on a farm that changes tenants constantly around here.
Heard it used many different ways though. Some farms of mine get mined by critters or trees. Losing acres around edges is really tough to make up. If I cut way back or just don’t apply anything in those areas, am I “mining” those acres? We don’t normally sample close to field edges because in theory the outside 20-30 ft should test really high right? | |
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Can we agree on a definition of mining the soil?
