In his last article, Bryce Walker recalled his journey with CarbonWorks products as he was searching for the best way to stabilize nitrogen and make it more available for crops. For this article, Bryce goes in depth into strategies for making soil health improvements on the farm to build the quality and profitability of your crop. 

Your Nutrient Bank: Invest Wisely

A fertilizer’s benefit is usually taken up within the year. It’s pretty quick. So it’s important to choose the right fertilizer for your area. A lot of it is going to come down to dollars or cents. In my area, most guys use anhydrous. Is it the best product for your soil biology? No, but it’s the most economical and easiest option for most farms. Nitrogen is pretty short-term, though. Phosphorus is a lot more important than people think. Getting those numbers up is going to help you through tougher conditions. 

Having a good nutrient bank overall is important to help you get through various types of stress, whether that’s disease pressure or weather. If you perform a total saturation test of your soil, you would know that there are actually a phenomenal amount of nutrients in the soil that’s tied up in the organic matter and bound to other minerals. We wouldn’t need as much fertilizer if we can find a way to unlock that. There have been a lot of studies lately from cover croppers and inter croppers on how much N, P, K, and S are in their soils, and it’s pretty remarkable—eye opening, really. 

More Nutrients, Higher Yields

Here in Canada, it’s a similar situation to what you have in the U.S.: fertilizer usage has steadily increased year over year. I think there’s certain areas that have realized it's too much. We haven’t had much acidification of the soil yet as certain areas of the U.S. have, but we have noticed it in the odd area where fertilizer has been over-applied. 

Our fertilizer rates have definitely increased over time, but so have the yields. Genetics have changed, too, with Liberty Link, Roundup Ready, and all that stuff. 

There isn’t a real mainstream way of thinking about unlocking nutrients right now. George’s products [CarbonWorks] help with feeding the biology. And, the products provide the energy needed to break some of those nutrients free from the soil. But this isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take time. 

Healthier Soil, Healthier Crops

When you have healthier soil, you’re going to grow healthier plants and seeds that are more dense. Is your yield going to be as high? Not always. The way many farmers are running fertility programs now, we’re really pushing nitrogen dominance. This is growing tonnage, but the crop isn’t as dense as what things could be or used to be. 

If you have all your nutrients in balance, you can both grow the tonnage and crop quality. Up here, you get areas where the soil is pure sand and guys are using irrigation to grow a crop. They’re growing tons and then adding micronutrients, supplements, stuff like that, in order to use it as cattle feed. They’re growing the carrier for the nutrients, basically. In some of the darker soil zones, they don’t have to do that.  

Cash Flow is King

At the end of the day, the bank account is the boss. We can talk about increasing crop diversity, but farmers aren’t going to take their cash cows out of the rotation. Farms are businesses. That’s probably the biggest issue with soil health: I don’t see the industry changing as far as what crops we’re growing. At least not in the short-term. It might, but it will take time for things to change as far as our rotations go. 

If we’re going to address soil health, we’re also going to have to look at adding products like George’s to the mix without interrupting Big Ag, because that’s not going to work. What worked for someone’s dad and grandpa—applying higher and higher amounts of synthetic fertilizers—did in fact work. They made money. And in the end, that’s what counts. However, we have to start talking about the long-term health of the farm in our conversations. Is this really best for your farm’s future? We have to combine both aspects of the equation when speaking with farmers.

Addressing Farmers and Soil Health

When I’m looking to start a conversation with a farmer, one lead-in that is a no-go is talking about trimming inputs. Yes, our soils can only handle so much [synthetic fertilizer]. So we have to focus on introducing products that can help with biological diversity—freeing up nutrients that are already there. After those start working, we can talk about trimming back on your inputs. But to lead with “let’s cut your inputs,” you might as well walk right out the door. 

A better approach is to look at the specific situation. Find a product that has good data behind it and, if it makes sense, dabble in it. Try it. You don’t have to go all-in from the start. Let’s face it: farms are getting bigger and there’s fewer people to deal with, which means there’s less time to play with different strategies. Farmers also want a product that’s going to work, and then they’ll use it on all their ground. That’s the big ag way of doing business. 

Be a Manager Not a Laborer

A farmer’s state of mind is an important part of the equation too when you’re looking at soil health. It’s important to be inquisitive, ask questions, and understand what is going on beneath your feet. You don’t want to just be a farm laborer or “working the land.” You need to be more interactive and learn about the pros and cons of every strategy or product you use. There’s a yin and yang to everything we do with the soil. 

So, as a farmer actively looks for ways to boost his soil health, he has to do research beyond the ROI numbers. It’s sort of the wild west out there when it comes to agronomy. What is behind the published ROI numbers? How much experience does the company have? What is backing up the data? A lot of these companies lack long-term lab or field trial data that’s going to adequately explain to someone what’s actually happening and how that’s related to the soil and yields. 

A lot of guys just want to know that you have data. They don’t look beyond it. That’s where you need to be more of a manager and dig into the facts. There’s also a lot of salesmanship in the industry, too. Yes, it helps to network with neighbors and get their take on something that has or hasn’t worked for them. And yes, you can do your own research. But you also have to pay attention carefully to what company reps are telling you. Everyone has horror stories. If a company is promising that a product is going to be absolutely amazing and they promise you the world, you should probably run. But if they’re reasonable and it’s something that fits in your operation, it might pay to give it a try. 

Looking Ahead

In Bryce’s next and final article, he’s going to share his experience with on-farm trials of agronomy products. He also discusses his role as a CarbonWorks distributor and representative and how he approaches educating farmers on the benefits of using carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen to unlock their farms’ true potential.