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Web Link Where Food Began
Soil
Our Good Earth
The future rests on the soil beneath our feet.
By Charles C. Mann
Photograph by Jim Richardson
On a warm September day, farmers from all over the state gather around the enormous machines. Combines, balers, rippers, cultivators, diskers, tractors of every variety—all can be found at the annual Wisconsin Farm Technology Days show. But the stars of the show are the great harvesters, looming over the crowd. They have names like hot rods—the Claas Jaguar 970, the Krone BiG X 1000—and are painted with colors bright as fireworks. The machines weigh 15 tons apiece and have tires tall as a tall man. When I visited Wisconsin Farm Technology Days last year, John Deere was letting visitors test its 8530 tractor, an electromechanical marvel so sophisticated that I had no idea how to operate it. Not to worry: The tractor drove itself, navigating by satellite. I sat high and happy in the air-conditioned bridge, while beneath my feet vast wheels rolled over the earth.
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Web Link Humus: Still a Mystery?
HUMUS: STILL A MYSTERY?
By Paul Sachs
What are humic acids?
Humic acids are biopolymers that are formed beside other humic substances (fulvic acid, humin) during the degradation of biological material. Soon after their discovery by the German chemist Karl Franz Achard (1753-1821), humic acids were recognized as general and essential constituent of agriculturally utilizable soils. Up to now, they remained subject of scientific investigations, which are predominantly connected with scientific problems of soil science as part of the modern agricultural science. In addition, the medicine dealt and deals with humic acids, especially in the domain of balneology, where humic acids in moor and well water, peats and soils are accepted as therapeutic agent as well as in the domain of virology, which could verify virostatic properties of humic acids.
Humus is like air in a sense. It is abundant, renewable and essential for life to exist on this planet. However, humus is so much more complex than air that even after hundreds of years of research, no one really knows exactly what it is.
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Web Link Soil Biology
Soil Biology
Ecosystems: Places where organisms interact with each other and their abiotic environment
Soil organisms interact in many ways. For example, protozoa eat bacteria and some fungi feed on protozoa or nematodes. Other fungi are consumed by protozoa or parasitized by nematodes. Interactions among soil organisms may be very complex. They are crucial to the functioning of soils. An understanding of the nature of the organisms that live in soil is essential for understanding soil ecology. The Soil Ecology and Soil Biology components of the website are designed to complement each other. One should remember that Structure + Process ->Pattern.
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Web Link Nitrogen Depletes Soil Carbon
Nitrogen Fertilizers Deplete Soil Organic Carbon
ScienceDaily (Oct. 29, 2007) — The common practice of adding nitrogen fertilizer is believed to benefit the soil by building organic carbon, but four University of Illinois soil scientists dispute this view based on analyses of soil samples from the Morrow Plots that date back to before the current practice began.
The common practice of adding nitrogen fertilizer is believed to benefit the soil by building organic carbon, but four University of Illinois soil scientists dispute this view. (Credit: Lynne Betts, USDA/NRCS)
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Web Link National Organic Program
| Welcome to the National Organic Program |
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What is organic?
Organic is a labeling term that indicates that the food or other agricultural product has been produced through approved methods that integrate cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering may not be used.
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Web Link Soil Biological Properties
Soil Biota
The soil contains a vast array of life forms ranging from submicroscopic (the viruses), to earthworms, to large burrowing animals such as gophers and ground squirrels. Microscopic life forms in the soil are generally called the "soil microflora" (though strictly speaking, not all are plants in the true sense of the word) and the larger animals are called macrofauna.
Soil animals, especially, the earthworms and some insects tend to affect the soil favorably through their burrowing and feeding activities which tend to improve aeration and drainage through structural modifications of the soil solum. In general, they affect soil chemical properties to a lesser extent though their actions indirectly enhance microbial activities due to creation of a more favorable soil environment.
Soil Microorganisms
Soil microorganisms occur in huge numbers and display an enormous diversity of forms and functions. Major microbial groups in soil are bacteria (including actinomycetes), fungi, algae (including cyanobacteria) and protozoa.
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Web Link The Dirt on Fertilizer
The Dirt on Fertilizer - Organic vs. Synthetics
| Written by Chris Molnar |
 If you have a garden, most likely you use some kind of fertilizer.
Plants are constantly extracting nutrients from the soil. Specific plants need different amounts of nutrients and minerals, as well as other 'amendments' to be applied to keep your soil in balance. A proper replenishment system keeps your garden healthy and protects it from decline.
As a home gardener, you have the choice of either using organic or synthetic fertilizers. Which should you choose?
Although I'm pro-organic, I'm not going to lie: synthetic is by far the more popular choice. It's most gardeners' top pick not only because of how readily available it is, but because most urban gardeners have grown up thinking synthetic fertilizer is the only way to keep plants alive and blooming. In fact, up until a few years ago, your local garden center only sold conventional fertilizer, usually as an all-purpose mix with all three major nutrients - N for nitrogen, P for phosphorus, and K for potassium.
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Web Link Soil at Work - USDA
A humorous look at soil presented by the United States Department of Agriculture
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Web Link Soil Biological Communities
Bacteria are minuscule, one-celled organisms that can only be seen with a powerful light (1000X) or electron microscope (we're talking TINY). They can be so numerous that a pinch of soil can contain millions of organisms. Bacteria are tough—they occur everywhere on earth and have even been found over a mile down into the core of the earth.
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Web Link Glyphosate Damage
How much are our current soybean yields limited by micronutrients like manganese (Mn)? Many soybean growers have noticed a yellowing (sometimes referred to as “yellow flash”) of glyphosate-tolerant soybean following post-emergent glyphosate applications. Glyphosate molecules are known to chelate with Mn, and prior research has suggested that leaf Mn deficiencies are more prevalent following glyphosate applications.
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Web Link Glyphosate - The Controversy
We have been getting many phone calls concerning the recent No-Till Farmer article ‘Are We Shooting Ourselves in the Foot with the Silver Bullet?’ (http://fhrfarms1.com/notillglyphosate.pdf). In this article based on an interview with Dr. Don Huber (retired plant pathologist from Purdue University), it is alleged that the non-judicious use of glyphosate has induced micronutrient deficiencies which have led to more plant disease.
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Web Link Roundup™ Consequences
The widespread use of glyphosate is causing negative impacts on soil and plants as well as possibly animal and human health. These are key findings of Don Huber, emeritus professor of plant pathology, Purdue University.
In a paper published in the European Journal of Agronomy in October 2009, Huber and co-author G.S. Johal, from Purdue's department of botany and plant pathology, state that the widespread use of glyphosate that we see today in agriculture in the United States can 'significantly increase the severity of various plant diseases, impair plant defense to pathogens and diseases, and immobilize soil and plant nutrients rendering them unavailable for plant use.'
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Web Link Soil Fertility 101
Few would dispute that there are both an art and science to growing high-quality turf. However, these days it seems that soil fertility and turf grass nutrition practices are becoming less scientific and more illogical than artistic. While science continues to move forward, it appears to me that most of the new theories or so-called advancements are professed by companies or individuals who stand to gain by selling their products or consultation services. . . .
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