Healthy Soil Healthy Life
Each year the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) holds a poster contest. Howard Soil and Water Conservation District (HSWCD) sponsors a local contest based on this national theme. The 2022 theme is “Healthy Soil Healthy Life” and much like last year's theme of “Healthy Forests Equal Healthy Communities” the statement is a fundamental truth. Soil is a living and life-giving natural resource. Soil can hold all the necessary ingredients for plants to grow. It can have nutrients, organic matter, air, and water all providing support for the root system of plants and if properly cared for soil can continue to grow plants.
Healthy soil does more than provide a place for plants. It gives us clean air and water, crops and forests, grazing lands, diverse wildlife, and beautiful landscapes. Soil does all this by performing five essential functions. It regulates water, sustains plant and animal life, filters and buffers potential pollutants, cycles nutrients like carbon and nitrogen and gives physical stability and support.
Few people think of soil having more in it than different types of minerals. Not only does Texas have various types of soils like clay, rocky or the all too familiar sandy, it plays host to a vast world of living creatures. Millions of species and billions of organisms make up a microscopic and macroscopic world. Bacteria, algae, microscopic insects, earthworms, beetles, ants, fungi and much more live in our soil, especially healthy soil. These organisms like other living creatures need food and shelter. By keeping them healthy our soil can support plants.
As world population and food production demands rise, keeping our soil healthy and productive is of paramount importance. By farming using soil health principles and systems that include no-till, cover cropping and diverse rotations, more and more farmers are increasing their soil's organic matter and improving microbial activity.
As a result, farmers are sequestering more carbon, increasing water infiltration, improving wildlife and pollinator habitat.
Tillage (plowing up the ground) can destroy soil structure and the organic matter that soil organisms need disrupting the biological cycle and making the soil more at risk for erosion. Soils managed with reduced/no till for several years contain more organic matter and moisture for plant use. Practices like no-till keep soil undisturbed from harvest to planting. By keeping the soil covered year-round with crops, crop residue, grass or cover crops it is less likely that wind and water erosion will occur thus protecting the soil. Farmers can save money on fuel and labor by decreasing tillage.
Cover crops are typically planted in late summer or fall around harvest and before spring planting of the next year's crops. Examples of cover crops include wheat, legumes (beans) and clovers. Planting several cover crop species together in a mixture can increase their impact on soil health.