Optimizing Soil Fertility and Plant Health

excesses or deficiencies of any of these four elements are corrected, the soil will not have the ideal amount of air in relation to water.

Since calcium and magnesium are by far the most needed and thus provide the most influence of the four elements involved for building the proper soil structure, always consider correcting them first. This is the place to begin if soils do not already have the ideal physical structure and thus the ideal amount of air to provide for optimum biological activity.

principle of nutrient balance which involves correcting the obvious deficiencies in order to help control any excesses.

Conclusion

Here is the basic foundational key to excellent soil health. Work to supply each soil with the proper amount of needed air and once accomplished, that soil will be most equipped to perform at its best.

Cover crops, compost, adding carbon and nutrients can all help contribute to soil health, but until there is enough air in the soil, the most critical component will still be slowing the way to excellent soil health.

Once the required percentages of calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium are met, then the soil chemistry is working at its best and providing the proper physical structure for air and water to function as they should due to well aerated soil. Will it always be perfect? No. Too much rain can reduce aeration, not enough water can cause problems as well. But once the soil nutrients are there in the correct proportions, only then does the soil have the best means of re-adjusting to the most ideal conditions in the shortest period of time. Until the conditions are met for proper aeration in each soil, there is no chance of achieving what is needed for an ideal in terms of soil fertility and plant health.

Here is the basic foundational key to excellent soil health. Work to supply each soil with the proper amount of needed air and once accomplished, that soil will be most equipped to perform at its best. But how can that be determined? And even if there is not enough air, what can a farmer or rancher do about it anyway?

This is the place to start, however, before correcting calcium and magnesium levels, there are three basic points that need to be understood.

First, when using the actual program developed to understand and correct the base saturation percentage of calcium plus magnesium these two numbers should always equal as close to 80% as possible in order to achieve the correct physical relationship between air and water in each soil.

In other words, the proper relationship between calcium and magnesium ultimately determines the friability of each soil—whether it is too tight or too loose or works up as it properly should. This relationship applies to every soil with a TEC of 4.16 or higher. (Lower TEC soils must be treated differently and requires a separate program of training to explain all the differences to consider.)

The second point is concerned with the reaction of calcium and magnesium to one another in terms of changes in the soil’s base saturation. The change is generally expected to be 1:1. This means that for every 1% increase in calcium the magnesium will decrease by 1%. And also, for every 1% magnesium goes up without adding more calcium to counteract it, the calcium will decrease by 1%. (But watch higher TEC soils. Some have magnesium trapped between the layers of clay, while others may have an abnormally high pH, or percentage of potassium or sodium that affects magnesium availability.)

This brings up the third point which is, the

The solution is well documented and has recently been verified with over five years of randomized, replicated university research. The study was conducted independently using government funds allocated for agricultural research without funding from any individuals, special interest groups, agricultural groups or organizations. Once published these results should be given serious consideration and regarded as essential research for defining and confirming the role of nutrients and aeration for soil and plant health.

Neal Kinsey is owner and President of Kinsey Agricultural Services, a consulting firm that specializes in restoring and maintaining balanced soil fertility for attaining excellent yields while growing highly nutritious food and feed crops on the land. Please call

Book Review by ANN ADAMS

For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production Systems

By Nicole Masters; Printable Reality, 2019, 249 pp

Ifirst heard Nicole Masters speak at the 2018 REGENERATE Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was amazed at the amount of information she shared during her presentation and the way she made that information both accessible and entertaining. So when I found out she was going to be writing a book, I was excited to read it.

For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production Systems is much more than a book about soil nutrients and soil health practices. Nicole also takes the opportunity to make the connection between soil health and human health, as well as how our attitudes about agriculture affect producers’ mental health and the viability of rural communities.

In other words, she lives up to her biography which notes that not only is Nicole the owner/lead consultant of Integrity Soils, but she is a systems thinker and organizational development specialist. It is with those skills that Nicole crafted For the Love of Soil and why Gabe Brown notes “For years many of us involved in regenerative agriculture have been touting the soil health—plant health—animal health— human health connection, but no one has tied them all together like Nicole does!”

And, indeed, the topics are far ranging in this book, which is one of the pleasures of learning from Nicole. For example, in her chapter on unintended consequences Nicole writes about the difference between behavior changes (where one can return to old behaviors) and transformation, and how we must use all our senses to really listen to and learn from the land. In doing so, we have to let go of our ego.

“Transformation on the other hand is irreversible, a door that once opened, can never be closed again. The butterfly cannot return to the chrysalis… Anything unfamiliar and new can create a sense of anxiety, fear, apprehension, suspicion and avoidance. Your little voice was mistaken, thinking that the unfamiliar and new was risky; when in fact, the most risk lies from not looking outside the known.” Her analysis of this distinction between change and transformation is perhaps one of the best explanations for why people have a hard time adopting new practices despite so much evidence that such a move would be good. People are actually confused about what risky behavior is, believing that status quo is less risky because it is known despite the economic evidence to the contrary.

And to be sure, there are lots of new things to learn when focusing on soil health as the way to productive and resilient land. Nicole writes about the “Five M’s” as a way forward to a soil transformation which include:

• Mindset

• Management

• Microbes

• Minerals

• OM (Organic Matter)

She notes that the biggest drag or driver of the Five M’s is Mindset. This is not news to those of who understand when Gabe Brown notes: “The majority of our compaction issues are between our ears.” As noted above, the need for transformative change is critical if producers are going to move past changing a practice because there is a subsidy or grant rather than because they understand how this practice fits within the relational soil food web and how that provides resilience and profitability to their business and the resources they are stewarding.

Of particular interest to me was Nicole’s comment that just because you’ve been doing planned grazing doesn’t mean that you will be able to address all soil health issues with that tool. As she notes, you might be able to do it, but how much resource and time do you have? She has been getting a lot of consulting work from holistic graziers who have hit a wall. She says that is when you have to look at other enabling factors as well as revisit management practices if you aren’t getting the results you want. In particular, she references her work with long-time Holistic Management practitioner, Steve Charter, of the 2 Lazy 2 Ranch in Montana, who began holistic planned grazing in the ‘80s.

When Steve switched his grazing, the land response was amazing, with increased productivity, reduced bare ground and increased biodiversity. But he felt like the land had not moved forward after the initial flush. In 2014 he began to look at soil health and sprayed biological stimulants on 400 acres with some good results including improved growth of his crested wheat and emergence of Western wheat that is now beginning to outcompete the crested wheat. He also has less bare ground. In 2017 he sprayed an additional 4,000 acres with a custom sprayer he made from an army truck and feels like he’s finally getting the results he wanted by adding the microbial life to the soil that he couldn’t add just with cattle. Steve’s story reminded me that looking at the whole toolbox is critical in this work.

Soil geeks will love this book which has all kinds of information about the chemical, physical, and biological interactions going on in the soil and how it impacts plant growth and animal and human health. For example, she notes that every time we disturb soil, microbes wake up hungry, and if you don’t feed them the bacteria will dominate. That’s a pretty clear message to me about the reasons why soil disturbance can really set land health back if you don’t understand the full picture. She notes there may be time for mechanical disturbance (such as when addressing compaction issues), but her answer is the “rip and drip” solution with using molasses and humic acid to feed the microbes after ripping soil.

I can’t go in to all the various solutions that Nicole suggests or tells stories about and from which she shares the results. However, I can tell you I finished reading the book feeling not only better educated, but inspired about how many tools there are to help us take our land to the next level of health without breaking the bank if we are willing to open our minds and use the resources available to us. Ultimately, the title of the book says it all: For the Love of Soil—tying together all the relationships—our plants, animals, families, and communities—that the soil feeds.

You can purchase For the Love of Soil at: https://www. integritysoils.co.nz/product/for-the-love-of-soil/.