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Preface
To use the land without abusing it.
-J. Otis Humphry, Early 1900s
We have written this book with farmers, extension
agents, students, and gardeners in mind. Building Soils for Better
Crops is a practical guide to ecological soil management that
provides background information as well as details of soil-improving
practices. This book is meant to give the reader an appreciation
of the importance of soil health and to suggest ecologically sound
practices that help to develop and maintain healthy soils.
The first edition of Building Soils for Better
Crops focused exclusively on soil organic matter management.
If you follow practices that build and maintain good levels of soil
organic matter, you will find it easier to grow healthy and high-yielding
crops. Plants can withstand droughty conditions better and won't
be as bothered by insects and diseases. By maintaining adequate
levels of organic matter in soil, there is less reason to use as
much commercial fertilizer and lime as many farmers now purchase.
Soil organic matter is that important!
Although organic matter management is the heart of
the second edition, we decided to write a more comprehensive guide
that includes the other essential aspects of building healthy soils.
This edition contains four chapters, two new and two completely
rewritten, on managing soil physical properties. We also included
four new chapters on nutrient management and one on evaluating soil
health. In addition, farmer profiles describe a number of key practices
that enhance the health of their soils.
A book like this one cannot give exact answers to
problems on specific farms. There are just too many differences
from one field to another, and one farm to another, to warrant blanket
recommendations. To make specific suggestions, it is necessary to
know the details of the soil, crop, climate, machinery, human considerations,
and other variable factors. Good soil management is better achieved
through education and understanding than with blanket recommendations.
Over many centuries, people have struggled with the
same issues we struggle with today. We quote some of these persons
in epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter in appreciation for
those who have come before. Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin No. 35, published in 1908, is especially fascinating. It
contains an article by three scientists about the importance of
soil organic matter that is strikingly modern in many ways. Another
example from more than a half century ago: The message of Edward
Faulkner's Plowman's Folly, that reduced tillage and increased
use of organic residues are essential to improving soil, is as valid
today as in 1943 when it was first published. The saying is right
what goes around comes around. Sources cited at the end of chapters
are those we referred to during writing. They are not a comprehensive
list of references on the subject.
Many people reviewed individual chapters or the entire
manuscript at one stage or another and made very useful suggestions.
We would like to thank: Jim Bauder, Douglas Beegle, Keith Cassel,
Andy Clark, Steve Diver, John Doran, Tim Griffin, Vern Grubinger,
Wendy Sue Harper, John Hall, John Hart, Bill Jokela, Keith Kelling,
Fred Kirschenmann, Shane LaBrake, Bill Lieb-hardt, Birl Lowery,
Charles Mitchell, Paul Mugge, Cass Peterson, George Rehm, Joel Rissman,
Eric Sideman, Ev Thomas, Michelle Wander, and Ray Weil. Special
thanks to Valerie Berton, former SARE communications specialist,
who wrote the farm profiles, copyedited the manuscript and oversaw
production. Any mistakes are, of course, ours alone.
-Fred Magdoff
Department of Plant & Soil Science
University of Vermont
& Harold van Es
Department of Crop & Soil Science
Cornell University
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