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Innovative Soil Management Strategies Featured in SAN Publications
SARE publications |
When a nearby horse stable went out of business, it forced Alex and Betsy Hitt
to search for an alternative to horse manure to amend the soil on their
five-acre farm. The Hitts, who raise 75 varieties of vegetables and an equal
number of cut flowers just outside Chapel Hill, North Carolina, created an
elaborate rotation featuring both winter and summer cover crops to supply
organic matter and nitrogen, lessen erosion, and crowd out weeds.
Learn how the Hitts and other innovative producers manage and conserve soil in
Building Soils for Better
Crops, one of many publications of potential interest to NRCS, available
from the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), national outreach arm of the
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
(SARE) program. (See below for a partial listing of SAN publications
available for purchase or for free as PDF files at
SAN’s WebStore).
“We have made a conscious decision in our rotation design to always have cover
crops.” Alex Hitt says. “We have to — it’s the primary source for all of our
fertility.”
A typical rotation for the Hitts includes a cool-season crop, a summer cover
crop such as soybeans and sudangrass, followed by a fall season cash crop and
then a winter cover. This careful rotation confounds weeds by varying the timing
and spacing of planting and cultivation from season to season. The cover crops
protect bare soil and smother weeds by crowding and shading them out.
Their commitment to building soil organic matter yields important payoffs. The
farm remains essentially free of soil-borne diseases, which they attribute to
“competition and diversity” in the soil. And, despite farming on a five percent
slope, they see little or no erosion. “The whole system works better,” says Hitt,
who served for years on Southern SARE’s grant-making council. “We don’t have
many diseases and we have a lot of beneficial insects. The whole thing is really
in balance and the rotation and cover crops have a lot to do with that.”
Alex and Betsy Hitt |
Along with Building Soils
for Better Crops, which focuses on how ecological soil management can raise
fertility and yields while reducing environmental impact, SAN offers many other
books and materials on using sustainable agriculture and environmental
stewardship to conserve natural resources.
Managing Cover Crops
Profitably
Comprehensive look at the use of cover crops to improve soil, deter weeds, slow
erosion, and capture excess nutrients.
Manage Insects on Your
Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies
Manage insect pests ecologically using crop diversification, biological control,
and sustainable soil management.
The New American Farmer 2nd
Edition
Profiles 60 farmers and ranchers who raise profits, enhance environmental
stewardship and improve the lives of their families and communities by embracing
new approaches to agriculture.
Steel in the Field
Farmer experience, commercial agricultural engineering expertise, and university
research combine to tackle the hard questions of how to reduce weed control
costs and herbicide use.
Nearly all SAN publications can be
viewed or downloaded in their entirety online. Print versions are available
for sale at SAN’s WebStore or by
calling 301-374-9696. SAN bulletins are available in quantity at no cost for
agricultural educators or service providers and significant bulk discounts are
available for book orders in quantity.
About SARE
Since 1988, SARE has helped advance farming
systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities
through a nationwide grants program. The program, administered by
CSREES and
USDA, funds projects and
conducts outreach designed to improve agricultural systems and natural
resources.
NRCS field office professionals frequently collaborate on SARE-funded projects
and are valuable partners to the SARE program. NRCS staff serve on SARE’s
national Operations Committee, on regional Administrative Councils, on State
committees and are actively engaged as technical advisers and collaborators on
SARE-funded research grants around the U.S.
For more information, visit
the SARE website or for more information about the regional SARE programs, click on the region
area of the map below.
Your contact is Diana Friedman, SARE
research associate, at 301-504-6422.
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