The 6 principles of soil health guide the farmers throughout the growing season and help them choose the right equipment and inputs to grow their crops.
What are the 6 principles of soil health?
- Keep Soil Covered: This principle emphasizes the importance of maintaining a protective cover over the soil surface at all times. Covering the soil helps to reduce erosion caused by wind and water, prevents nutrient leaching, moderates soil temperature, and promotes moisture retention. Cover crops, mulch, crop residues, and living vegetation all serve as effective covers to shield the soil from the elements. By keeping the soil covered, farmers and gardeners can foster a healthier and more productive soil environment, supporting thriving plant growth and microbial activity.
- Minimize Soil Disturbance: Minimizing soil disturbance involves reducing practices such as tillage that disrupt the natural structure and composition of the soil. Excessive tillage can lead to soil compaction, erosion, loss of organic matter, and disturbance of soil organisms. Adopting conservation tillage techniques, such as no-till or reduced tillage, helps to preserve soil structure, enhance water infiltration, and promote the retention of organic matter. By minimizing soil disturbance, farmers can improve soil health, increase crop productivity, and mitigate environmental impacts.
- Increase Plant Diversity: Increasing plant diversity involves cultivating a variety of crops, cover crops, and vegetation types within agricultural and natural ecosystems. Plant diversity enhances soil health by promoting nutrient cycling, improving soil structure, suppressing weeds, and attracting beneficial insects. Crop rotations, intercropping, and agroforestry systems are some strategies used to increase plant diversity and promote ecological resilience. By embracing plant diversity, farmers can enhance the stability and sustainability of their agricultural systems while minimizing the need for external inputs.
- Keep Living Roots in the Ground: This principle emphasizes the importance of maintaining continuous root growth in the soil throughout the year. Living roots exude carbon compounds and other substances that fuel soil microbial activity, improve soil structure, and enhance nutrient cycling. Cover crops, perennial vegetation, and multi-year cropping systems help to ensure a constant supply of living roots in the soil, supporting soil health and productivity. By keeping living roots in the ground, farmers can enhance soil fertility, reduce erosion, and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
- Maintain Soil Armor: Soil armor refers to the protective layer of organic material, such as mulch or crop residues, that covers the soil surface. Maintaining soil armor helps to reduce erosion, minimize moisture loss, suppress weeds, and promote soil microbial activity. Mulching, crop residue retention, and cover cropping are effective strategies for preserving soil armor and enhancing soil health. By maintaining soil armor, farmers can improve soil structure, conserve water, and enhance the resilience of their agricultural systems.
- Incorporate Livestock into the System: Integrating livestock into agricultural systems can provide numerous benefits for soil health, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem functioning. Livestock grazing can help to distribute organic matter, improve soil aeration, and stimulate microbial activity in the soil. Managed grazing practices, rotational grazing, and agro-pastoral systems can enhance soil fertility, reduce weed pressure, and improve the overall productivity of agricultural landscapes. By incorporating livestock into the system, farmers can harness the synergies between plant and animal production, optimize nutrient cycling, and promote sustainable land management practices.