With New Testing Protocol,
New York Research Digs Into Soil Health
For a small fee, New York farmers soon will
be able to take a soil sample to a Cornell
University lab, where scientists will determine
its overall health. The test will go beyond
measuring pH to include physical and biological
properties, a science-based assessment of
how strategies such as reduced tillage and
cover cropping can improve soil quality.
The soil health test will be one result of
SARE-funded participatory research at Cornell
that relies on teams of county extension
educators and area farmers spread across
the state to collect data and demonstrate
promising soil management strategies.
“To my surprise, growers want to know
the biological composition of their soils,” said
George Abawi, a Cornell soil researcher based
in Geneva, NY, who is heading the project. “The
growers are very interested and are asking
us: ‘What are my farming practices
doing to my soil productivity?’ ”
Interest in soil management has reached
an all-time high, says Abawi, a researcher
for 35 years, evidenced by the standing-room-only
crowd at the Empire Fruit & Vegetable
Expo and a steady influx of questions from
farmers throughout the study. On the ground,
more farmers are planting longer rotations
using cover crops and reduced tillage—a
set of strategies encouraged in the project.
As a member of one of the five “ag
teams,” Wayne County vegetable grower
Elizabeth Henderson’s Peacework Organic
Farm demonstrated minimum tillage and nitrogen-rich
soil amendments like composted horse manure
and cover crops at a fall 2004 field day.
Years of such soil-building strategies and
minimizing negative impacts on her 18 acres
provides eye-opening data to the project.
For example, soil compaction, measured using
a penetrometer, was minimal. Soil structure,
tested in a sieve in a simulated downpour,
proved full of organic material, crumbly
and better able to resist erosion than on
a farm not using those practices.
The project shows “a rediscovery of
the significance of soil quality,” said
Henderson, who serves as a farmer-educator
for SARE. “They’re interested
in what we’re doing on our farm.”
Abawi and his partners are collecting data
from Henderson and up to 100 other farmers
to synthesize their growing knowledge of
how various management practices affect soil
health. At the long-term soil health site
at Geneva, researchers reported seeing soil
improvements after just two seasons of adding
a hairy vetch cover crop between cash crops.
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