Posts by ksolberg
Solberg on Soil: Wide-Row Corn for More Income, Soil Health?
Some recent thoughts on wide-row corn were recently discussed in Successful Farming Magazine. For producers with beef cattle, sheep or dairy replacement heifers, wide-row corn may be a more profitable way to use corn acres. Wide-row corn could be a means of developing 2-3 income streams from what was single-income acreage while increasing plant diversity, integrating livestock and…
Read MoreSolberg on Soil: Wide-Row Corn Can Generate Two Income Streams
There has been considerable buzz about 60-inch corn rows, and several Minnesota producers are dabbling with this idea. Here’s an article summarizing what some Iowa innovators are learning. If you grow crops and have beef or dairy replacements you would like to graze on corn stubble, wide-row corn with interseeded cover crops may generate two income streams…
Read MoreSolberg on Soil: Let Progress Affect Your Farm Goals: Measure & Monitor for Regenerative Success
“Are we there yet?” is the all-too-familiar phrase heard from the back seat of the car during a family road trip. Similar questions have arisen from farmers who have started down a journey of soil regeneration wondering about their progress. I don’t recall who stated it first, but “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”…
Read MoreSolberg on Soil: The Basics of Creating Wildlife Habitat
Creating wildlife habitat is often cited among landowners and farmers as a reason to alter management on their land, including moving to a focus on soil health. For some species generalists such as deer, downy woodpeckers and Canada geese, this is easy as they can thrive in suburban areas, golf courses and parks as well…
Read MoreSolberg on Soil: Small Grains Can Work in Crop Rotation
Corn and soybean farmers question the financial ability of adding small grains, namely wheat, into their crop rotation. Dr. David Hooker presents some interesting work on calculating returns when adding wheat inter-seeded with red clover to the corn and soybean rotation. While the video is a few years old, he stands by the thought process…
Read MoreSolberg on Soil: Managed Grazing for Replacement Heifers
Dairy farmers are struggling with low milk prices. A large cost for dairy producers is rearing replacement heifers. Depending upon whose numbers you look at it costs between $1,700-$2,400 to raise a heifer to first lactation. This is not financially competitive given current heifer market values ($800-$1,000/head). Managed grazing can be an effective means to…
Read MoreSolberg on Soil: Videos, Tighty Whities, Soil as Biology & More
Dr. Mike Lehmann, who spoke at the 2016 Midwest Soil Health Summit, is featured in this three-video series that explores how a diversity of microbes in healthy soil can accelerate decomposition. Spoiler alert: the cotton undies decomposed faster in the more diverse crop rotation. View the videos on our Soil Health Videos page (to order…
Read More