Many thanks to Dr. Ray Weil, University of Maryland (right),
and Joel Gruver (in soil pit) for all the soil quality research they've done on my farm.

1999 SARE Project
"Economic and Environmental Impact of No-Till Processing
Tomatoes vs. Conventional Processing Tomatoes"

Soil Quality Research at Cedar Meadow Farm
This research was done in cooperation with University of MD, 1997

 

% aggregate stability
Fields not tilled for over 10 years	62.3%
Fields tilled in the last 10 years	18.1%

Carbohydrates (mg/kg soil)
Fields not tilled for over 10 years	48.4mg
Fields tilled in the last 10 years	37.3mg

 

Soil Bulk Density (g/cm3)
field	4	25	23	35	8	36
Bulk Density	1.35	1.28	1.25	1.18	1.19	1.06
Yrs. not tilled	2	3	10	15	30	30

 

Total Microbial Biomass mg/kg soil
Fields not tilled for over 10 years	304mg
Fields tilled in the last 10 years	161mg

 

% Aggregate Stability
field	4	25	23	35	8	36
Aggregate Stability	19.4	24.5	24.0	68.2	57.6	87.3
Yrs. not tilled	2	3	10	15	30	30

 

Microwave Extractable Carbon mg/g soil
field	4	25	23	35	8	36
Extractable	.123	.136	.145	.154	.240	.247
Yrs. not tilled	2	3	10	15	30	30

 

Microbial Biomass Carbon mg/g soil
field	4	25	23	35	8	36
Microbial Biomass C	.064	.076	.098	.093	.146	.160
Yrs. not tilled	2	3	10	15	30	30

 

Microwave Extractable Sugars
field	4	25	23	35	8	36
Extractable Sugars	.059	.060	.064	.072	.105	.115
Yrs. not tilled	2	3	10	15	30	30

 

Results of 114 soil samples taken in PA and MD
	Average	CMF
Bulk Density cm3	1.26	1.18
Aggregate Stability %	36.7	64.0
Extractable C mg/g	.201	.252
Extractable Sugar mg/g	.103	.129
Microbial Biomass mg/g	.124	.168

 

Effects of Cover Crops on Soil Quality
and
Crop Yeild in a Lower Quality Soil
vs. a High Quality Soil.

University of Maryland,
Dr. Ray Weil

These 2 fields are side by side and are same soil type. The High quality field has not been tilled for over 30 years and has 5.8% organic matter. The low quality field has not been tilled for 8 years and has 3.8% organic matter. We intend to carry this research out over several years to see the long term effects of cover crops. 1999 was an extremly dry year and yields were low, but it proved the positive effects of long-term no-till.

(4 replications, each approx. 15'x 100') hairy vetch/rye cover - 110.4 bu/A no cover - 107.5 bu/A difference - 2.9 bu/A average yeild in plot. 108.95 Low Quality Soil Field (3 reps) hairy vetch/rye cover - 81.2 bu/A no cover - 72.1 bu/A difference - 9.1 bu/A average yeild in plot - 76.65 bu/A difference between high and low quality fields - 32.3 bu/A