When evaluating the quality of land for farming, one of the key features of interest will be its organic matter content...

In the February 2023 issue of this column, I introduced the forces binding soil into water-stable aggregates...

In the March 2024 issue of this column, it was questioned whether pastures were just right in maturity or too old and in need of renovation...

Do fresh, newly planted pastures provide better nutritional quality for grazing livestock than older pastures?...

Out of sight, out of mind! This adage can certainly apply to our view of soil and the organisms that live in it...

This edition of Sunrise on Soil offers some ethical and spiritual musings of soil...

Organic matter is a key indicator of soil health and soil function, affecting the natural supply of nutrients, buffering against pH changes, softening soil to resist compaction, holding more water for plant uptake, creating water-stable aggregates to resist erosion, and providing organic resources to feed soil biological communities...

Carbon is fundamental to all life. It forms the backbone structure of carbohydrates (composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), which are the initial products from the miraculous process of photosynthesis...

To have healthy, functioning grasslands that are nutritious as livestock forage, productive over time, resilient in the face of periodic droughts, that resist the erosive action of intense thunderstorms, and that extract nutrients from soil efficiently, these swards need a vigorous root system!...

Can soil really be considered healthy or unhealthy? Wouldn’t that require soil to be a living entity? How could this be if soil is made up of sand, silt, and clay particles and simply holds water and air as a medium for anchoring plants to the earth?...